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Resolution 9: Advancing Boreal Forest Conservation in Canada / Avanzando en la conservación del Bosque Boreal en Canadá

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WHEREAS Canada’s Boreal Forest Region is globally significant and is one of the largest storehouses of terrestrial carbon on the planet;

WHEREAS Canada’s Boreal Forest Region also stores more freshwater in wetlands and lakes and more carbon in its trees, soil and peat than any other terrestrial ecosystem;

WHEREAS the remaining original forests, primarily Boreal Forests in Canada, contain high conservation value examples of ecological processes such as predator-prey, fire and hydrological cycle;

WHEREAS Canada’s Boreal Forest Region is home to a rich array of wildlife such as bears, wolves, wolverines and the world’s largest caribou herds, and are also the breeding grounds for migratory bird species including significant percentages of land birds and waterfowl;

WHEREAS that Canada’s Boreal Forest Region is an important cultural landscape, home to thousands of indigenous peoples that hold deeply rooted spiritual and cultural relationships to their lands, waters, and creatures, and whose cultures, spirituality, and economic well-being and renewal are inextricably linked to the continuing health of the Boreal Forest ecosystems and many of which rely primarily on the forest for their livelihood and cultural survival;

THEREFORE the World Wilderness Congress commends the governments of Ontario and Quebec for their combined conservation commitments of 725,000 km2 of their Boreal Forest Region, and encourages them both to implement their commitments with robust action plans.

BE IT RESOLVED that delegates of the 9th World Wilderness Congress urge federal, provincial, and territorial leaders in Canada to

• recognize, preserve and protect ecological processes through which the overall health of Boreal Forest Regions have been sustained, using sufficiently funded community-based and ecosystem-based land use planning, especially before tenure allocation, to maintain forest health, structure, ecological functions, compositions and biodiversity, carbon reservoirs, and indigenous cultural values over the long term;

• acknowledge and respect the role of indigenous peoples in achieving conservation goals while respecting their traditional land management regimes and knowledge, in all conservation efforts;

• protect at least 50% of the Boreal Forest Region in a network of large interconnected protected areas, and

• support sustainable communities, world-leading ecosystem-based resource management and state-of-the-art stewardship practices across the remaining landscape.

PROPOSER

• Ron Thiessen,  Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS)

SECONDERS

• Patrick Nadeau, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS)

• Wendy Francis,  Yellowstone to Yukon

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