Canadian Advisory Panel Warns Climate Feedback May Destroy Boreal Forest

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EDMONTON -- Canada must learn quickly how to adapt to climate change in the boreal forest, warns a report released today by a national advisory agency. It could be too hot and dry for trees at the southern limit of the forest, says the report by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, an independent body created by the federal government.

The increased intensity of fires and insect outbreaks will further ravage the forests. This will affect the forestry industry and the communities that are based in the forest, the report says. It would also have a global impact. The boreal forests -- the northernmost forest zone in the northern hemisphere -- are the largest storehouse of carbon in the world. They store nearly twice as much carbon as tropical rain forests. Most of this carbon is in the ground, including vast stretches of peatlands. If this carbon is disturbed, by fire or plow, it combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide, a gas responsible for climate change. If boreal forest destruction increases enough, the forests will turn into a carbon dioxide source instead of a storehouse.

"So what happens to the boreal has a big impact on what happens to the climate," said Cathy Wilkinson, director of the Canadian Boreal Initiative. The boreal group, formed in 2003, works with a wide range of conservation organizations, First Nations, industry and other interested parties to link science, policy and conservation activities in Canada's boreal forest. "If all that carbon is released it can actually contribute to climate change."

Canada should set aside and conserve large chunks of intact forest as a buffer against the change so animals have a refuge, said Wilkinson, who served on the round table's boreal committee.

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