Archived press release

Canadian Forests

28 June 1995

The vast forests of Canada are disappearing in the wake of an onslaught of logging for timber and paper. This is the conclusion of a Friends of the Earth investigation into claims that Canada's forests are being managed 'sustainably'.

In a special Briefing Paper entitled 'Sustainability and Logging in Canada's Forests' (attached), Friends of the Earth reveals that:

- as much as 1.4 million acres of logged (mostly clear-felled) forest fails to regrow each year; by 1994, more than 10 million acres (an area twice the size of Wales) remained denuded after logging [1];

- the amount of wood logged in Canada's coniferous forests in 1989 (and probably subsequently) exceeded the Annual Allowable Cut [2];

Simon Counsell, Forests Campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said;

"The forest industry and Government of Canada have spent millions of dollars perpetuating the myth that logging in Canada is sustainable. That myth has now been exploded. Even the yield of timber from Canada's forests appears to be unsustainable, and there must be grave concerns about the impacts of logging on Canada's wildlife. The Canadian Government and forest industry would do better to invest in forest conservation programmes than PR exercises" [3].

The new Briefing Paper also reveals that eight of the largest logging companies operating in Canada have, between them, rights to fell more than 100 million acres of forest, equivalent to an area greater than twice the size of the United Kingdom [4]. Europe and the UK is one of the major markets for the timber and paper exported by these companies.

Simon Counsell continued:

"The devastation of the temperate rainforests of Canada's west coast has been well publicised, but buyers of Canadian timber and paper may be shocked to learn that this is a nationwide problem".

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

[1] The State of Canada's Forests, Government of Canada, 1993.

[2] According to a report of Forestry Canada, the Federal Government's forestry agency, the amount of softwood felled in 1989 was approximately 174 million cubic metres of wood, whilst the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) was lower at about 170 million cubic metres. Annual Allowable Cut is calculated on the basis of the forests' ability to regrow.

The information provided by the Canadian Government shows that both the AAC and actual level of harvesting were substantially revised the following year, resulting in the actual cut being recorded as once again well within the limit of the AAC. Repeated requests by Friends of the Earth to the Government of Canada for an explanation of this have gone unanswered.

[3] It has been reported that the Provincial Government of British Columbia and the British Columbia Forest Alliance have a public relations' budget in excess of $500,000 per year for Europe alone.

[4] Between them, Weyerhaueser, MacMillan Bloedel, Fletcher Challenge, Repap, Alpac, Avenor, Canfor and Abitibi-Price, own or lease more than 41 million hectares of forest land. Some of these companies have rights to remove large quantities of wood from additional and unspecified areas of forest.

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