A group of 23 biology and conservation scientists from around the world is calling for provincial governments to forever prevent the development of at least 50 percent of Canada's boreal forest, according to The Globe and Mail.
The Boreal Conservation Science Panel will present a paper on Monday at the International Congress of Conservation Biology defending the forests as a valuable carbon store, fresh-water source and wildlife habitat that is crucial to global ecology.
"The boreal forest overall has an overriding potential influence on the global climate, marine productivity, the wildlife in the case of birds that move across the entire hemisphere. So it actually has a huge influence on the rest of the world," said Jeff Wells, the science and policy director for the Boreal Songbird Initiative and one of the authors of the report.
The main claim of that report is the "rules and regulations for managing industrial extraction of resources in Canada's boreal forest have not kept pace with the rapidly expanding footprint of industrial activities and plans." While 80 percent of the forest in intact, only 10 percent is protected.
A similar call to action by the International Boreal Conservation Campaign of the Pew Charitable Trusts was made in 2007, arguing the area was one of the world's five remaining regions that help preserve the global environmental balance.
