Following on from Derek Piper’s article on Canada’s proposed Cap and Trade system for this fall, environmentalists and policy makers will be left to wonder at whether Prime Minister Harper’s effort is part of a more serious effort to tackle green house gas emissions or simply keeping up with Jones’.

Some of the most far-reaching efforts have been initiated in Canada’s provinces: from British Columbia’s carbon tax to Ontario’s Premier McGuinty’s push for a transformation of domestic energy suppliers as renewable base. These efforts on the one hand, provide an idea on Canada’s potential to act as leader in climate change issues and, in stark contrast on the other hand, show the lack of leadership at federal level. The efforts of provincial leaders mean that the vast majority of Canada’s population and a majority of its economy are located in areas that face significant climate legislation. In addition, the British Columbia election, has shown that environmental legislation can endure beyond an electoral term. To put it plainly, Harper need only coordinate provincial efforts to turn Canada into a global leader for Climate Change policies.

Harper’s efforts however, have always been to manouvre Canada to around the middle of the developed countries pack. Harper has two rationales and if nothing else he has always been consistent with regards to climate change policy. His first rationale is that Canadian economic development is his primary aim and climate change targets will only be implemented where they don’t conflict with existing industries; particularly the EITE group industries “(energy intensive, trade exposed) which includes aluminium, cement, chemicals, iron & steel, lime, gas transmission, base metal smelting, iron ore pelletizing, pulp & paper, and potash companies”. The EITE industries are core areas of the Canadian export economy, and as might be expected have concomitant environmental impacts.

The sum of Harper’s latest move as Derek highlights, is keeping up appearances, with the US having passed the Waxman-Markey bill, (although probably not voting on it now until late Autumn and possibly watered down) and in the face of upcoming talks with the US and in Copenhagen in December. Canada will have little clout to influence the direction of global talks with its current policy widely derided as insufficient. The current proposal of Cap and Trade with plenty of opt outs allows for a generous fig leaf cover when going into negotiations. Harper has aided the undermining of Obama’s climate leadership from both stiff resistance from industrial lobbyists in the US and Republican opposition in Congress.

Where does this leave us? Harper’s efforts should not be taken entirely negatively; an actual Cap and Trade is still an improvement on the intensity based targets, although it will still fall short of the requirement that Canada cut its emissions by far more than 20% on 2006, the current emissions targets for 2020. Going into Copenhagen, Harper has left Canada positioned to be neither praised nor censured, perfect positioning for Harper, but woefully short of what a country of Canada’s wealth and status is capable of.

It rarely receives the same attention as the Amazon rain forest, one is being devastated by illegal

Deforestation (credit: energyportal.eu)

logging and development but the other, Canada’s Boreal forests also represents a key battleground against Climate Change. Set in the in the far north, not far below the arctic line, the Boreal forests are a huge band across Canada stretching from coast to coast, annually temperatures can go from 30C in the summer all the way down to -50C in the winter. Covering 2.9million km^2,, and representing 25% of the world’s un-developed forests the Boreal forests are a huge source of concern for conservationists and Scientists alike.

The Boreal is to carbon what Fort Knox is to gold.
These maps document where and how these vital reserves
– a virtual shield against global warming –
are distributed across Canada. We should do everything we can
to ensure that the carbon in these storehouses is not released.

Dr. Jeff Wells, Senior Scientist, International Boreal Conservation Campaign

From the point of view of Climate Change a truer statement could hardly have been made, because locked up in the Boreal forests are over 100 billion tonnes of Carbon, and they annually sequester 12.5m tonnes of Carbon each year making them a critical sink of Carbon but more importantly a source of Carbon that needs to remain locked in.

Their importance has for several years attracted strong concern from various environmental groups from their own Conservation group the IBCC to Green Peace and a number of similarly concerned conservation and environmental organisations. Many feel that the ever-rising demands from industries that rely on boreal forest resources could in the long-term threaten the Boreal Forests. However a turning point came in 2007 when 1,500 Scientists from over 50 countries signed a letter calling for conservation measures to be put into place.

Their concerns were not without merit. Canada’s natural resources, already a critical part of its economy are subject to ever rising demand. In particular logging, mining and energy development all place demands on the Boreal forest region. These demands are set to increase with the growing appetites of China and India for raw materials, putting greater pressure on provincial governments to open up more of the Boreal forests for development.

As if shouldering the burden of economic weight was not enough, natural phenomena have begin to take their toll on the Boreal forests, forest fires and Pine-beetles, already devastating in the US have taken their toll on Canadian forests. Pine beetles, able to spread through rising temperatures, destroyed 130,000 km² in Western Canada in 2008, as well as devastating parts of the US.

Forest fires, have been equally devastating, with perhaps the most concerning statistic being that in some years forest fires account for up to 45% of Canada’s GHG emissions, and large-scale forest fires have hardly been a scarce: 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Fortunately the importance is starting to sink in and rising awareness has prompted greater efforts to preserve, manage or sustainably develop the Boreal Forests.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest has promised to sustain 50% of its Northern forests from intensive development such as mining and 12% from any development at all. Quebec as in most has to walk the line between mining and logging mining, a multi-billion dollar industries for Canada.

Nevertheless, even Alberta, Canada’s oil state and home of the Tar-sands, has recognised the importance of preservation. The Alberta Research Council, working with the Pembina institute and Forestry leaders has formulated a policy to offset Alberta’s declining Boreal forests.

However, the most groundbreaking effort comes from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, no stranger to bold environmental legislation (he recently proposed the Green Energy Act) he has promised to preserve 50% of Ontario’s Boreal forests and the other half subject to sustainable development regulation. This amounts to 225,000 km² of land where even hunting and fishing will be severely curtailed and other development completely banned.

Of equal importance, is the emphasis on sustainable development for the other 50%. As this article, makes clear up to 24,000 people live in the Boreal forested part of Ontario many of them first nations people and Metis communities. McGuinty has pledged to allow sustainable development with them, including reforming mining, to make it more sustainable. While the plan is estimated to take 10-15 years before its fully realised, like the Green Energy Act, Ontario has become an uncompromising trendsetter in its dedication to environmental pursuits.

The Boreal forests, might not have the attention of the Amazon, and are often second in environmentalists demands, in the place of renewable energy or fighting the tar sands but they represent a key battle that should never be far from campaigners eyes. Much of the above legislation is a start in the right direction, but how durable conservation efforts will prove, in the face of rising global demand for raw materials and the economic benefits to Canadian provinces and even local communities will prove a much greater test in the years ahead.

While Obama’s visit to Canada rightly made headlines across North America; as the first state visit and one that was open in its discussion of Climate Change measures (even if they Climate Change talks had to take a backseat to the economy. 2009 however, also saw the slow awakening of another key initiative to Combat climate change on the North American continent.

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