TORONTO, April 30 - Experts from across Canada gathered at the University of Toronto last night to discuss new approaches to protecting ecosystems in Ontario's Northern Boreal Forest especially in light of dangerous climate change.
The panel, moderated by Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller, challenged the audience to think about how Ontario could plan for Boreal ecosystems while at the same time respecting Aboriginal peoples and building new opportunities for economic prosperity.
"Planning in the Boreal Forest has to start with big landscapes. The bigger the better," said Herb Hammond, award winning author and forest ecologist. "The more you know about forests, the more you realize you don't know," Hammond cautioned. And that is why we have to be precautionary in our approach, he said.
The event was part of a nation-wide launch of Hammond's newest book called maintaining Whole Systems on Earth's Crown: Ecosystem-based Conservation Planning for the Boreal Forest. Hammond clarified ecosystem-based planning is not the same as land use planning, it subsumes land use planning. "Economics are part of cultures and cultures are part of ecosystems," he noted.
Last night's discussion comes at a pivotal moment: the Ontario government is currently drafting legislation that will determine how planning will be done in the Far North in partnership with Aboriginal peoples. This legislation will ultimately impact the health and prosperity of communities in the north, as well as the health our northern forests, eatlands, lakes and rivers.
"There is an ocean of carbon in the Boreal soils," said Dr. Jeremy Kerr, Professor of Biology at the University of Ottawa and a member of the International Boreal Conservation Science Panel. "We need to think seriously about this part of the world and its value as a carbon bank," he added. Dr. Kerr also recommended a "strong, durable presence of science in the planning process as the policy unfolds," for the Far North.
The audience included scientists, academics, policy-makers, environmental groups and members of the public.
For further information: Lee-Ann Unger, (604) 607-5421 or
