• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Forest Report Puts Dollar Value on Clean Water, Stable Climate

Posted on: Thursday, 24 November 2005, 21:00 CST

By JOHN COTTER

EDMONTON (CP) - The clean water and stable climate provided by Canada's boreal forest are worth billions of dollars to the economy and can no longer go unrecognized, says a new report.

Counting Canada's Natural Capital puts a financial value on what forests and wetlands do for the environment, including purifying water, regulating climate and producing oxygen.

The report estimates that value at $93.2 billion annually - about twice the total market value of forestry, hydro and oil and natural gas activity.

"Ignoring the value of Canada's boreal wealth to the well-being of the nation is akin to ExxonMobil ignoring the volume of oil and gas reserves and annual production in its annual report," says the report commissioned by the Canadian Boreal Initiative and written by the Pembina Institute.

"Yet this is how nations treat their natural capital, by disregarding its full economic value."

The report, to be released in Ottawa on Friday, calls on the federal and provincial governments to take an inventory of natural capital assets, including resource consumption, timber growth rates and the ability of forests and wetlands to store carbon.

It recommends governments carefully weigh the value of industrial activity against the long-term damage to the boreal forest.

That would hopefully lead governments to expand the number and size of protected forested areas - especially in light of the growing number of resource extraction projects planned or underway in Canada.

"I think we are getting close to the line," said David Schindler, a University of Alberta ecology professor, who was a consultant on the report.

He hopes the report will change the way politicians, industry leaders and the public think about the boreal forest.

"In some provinces, especially Alberta, we are going at resources at a rate of destruction that only occurs in wars. We have an oilsands plan that is going to make a toxic pit the size of Lake Erie," he said.

"What we are after is a sustainable system."

Canada's boreal forest is among the three largest remaining in the world. It accounts for 25 per cent of the planet's remaining intact forests.

As well, more than one-third of the world's wetlands are in Canada's boreal region - a sprawling belt of green that girdles much of the country.

The report points out that about a third of the region has some industrial development, while less than 10 per cent is strictly protected.

Cathy Wilkinson, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Boreal Initiative, said many economists and governments will balk at the idea of placing a financial value on clean water and a stable climate, but they have to start somewhere.

"If you don't know the value of something you can't manage it properly," she said.

"The boreal has a whole range of values. Some we understand and some we don't. Our goal is to get a better handle on those values so we as Canadians can help manage them."

The release of the report comes only days before a United Nations climate change conference in Montreal.

The report's findings further show why forest conservation should be part of long-term global climate change planning, she said.

"Countries are coming together to talk about the future of the global climate," she said. "We think it is really important that these values are recognized."

Source: Canadian Press

More News in this Category