BIODIVERSITY

Conserving Canada?s Natural Capital: The Boreal Forest

Canada?s Boreal region is a vast area covering six million square kilometres, spanning seven provinces and all three territories. It contains the last remaining natural, original forest in the world. Pressure on this ecosystem is growing rapidly as resource development is increasingly moving northward and as provinces open up untouched areas for development.

At the NRTEE, we developed a set of tools designed to protect the natural environment while permitting certain crucial economic activities to thrive. These tools include:

• Tax policy changes and incentives for good practice;
• Offsets, which require enhancement or protection of one area in exchange for development rights in another; and
• Conservation easements, whereby third parties would negotiate directly for the right to manage Crown land in the interests of preserving vital biodiversity yields.

We further recommended achieving balance in the region through initiatives in four areas: leadership, education and information; ecological fiscal reform; innovations in planning and regulatory frameworks; and institution- and capacity-building.

Start Date: November 2003
End Date: October 2005
Status: Report released

News Release

October 31, 2005 - Canada's "Amazon" under threat: New National Round Table report urges action on vast Boreal region