At least some countries are getting it right! Many of you may have
signed a petition last May, aimed at protecting the Boreal Forest.
Here's to you! Good news is not all that common nowadays.
There's more about "the boreal" at http://borealbirds.org/


Regards,

Ellen Blackstone
Wedgwood, Seattle
ellen AT 123imagine.net
(Sorry if this was posted earlier.)
=======================
Nobel Prize Winning Climate and Conservation Scientists Call Visionary
Plan to Protect Vast Canadian Boreal Forest Unprecedented

One of World?s Largest Conservation Commitments: Ontario to preserve
one-half of its Boreal Forest, more than 55 million acres

(Seattle, Wash.) ? As news spreads of Ontario?s commitment to protect
over 55 million acres of Canada?s Boreal Forest, an area almost the size
of the United Kingdom, leading international scientists and
conservationists are expressing their strong support for Premier Dalton
McGuinty?s science-based leadership.

?Premier McGuinty has set a new standard for Canada and the rest of the
world for land conservation by committing to one of the world?s largest
conservation plans,? said Dr. Joshua Reichert, managing director of the
Pew Environment Group. ?Ontario?s commitment to set aside half of its
Boreal Forest helps ensure the long-term integrity of a vital ecosystem.
This is truly a conservation milestone.?

Ontario?s plan to protect 50 percent of its Boreal Forest is considered
a conservation science first and the size of this commitment is
unprecedented in North American history. ?This is the kind of bold
leadership and large-scale thinking that the world needs as we confront
the challenges of global warming,? said Dr. Terry Root of Stanford
University. Dr. Root is a lead author for the United Nations?
International Panel on Climate Change, which was awarded last year?s
Nobel Peace Prize. ?Solutions to ensuring the survival of species and
ecosystems as they are forced to move north to adapt to our warming
planet require protection of very large unfragmented blocks of habitat
like what we see in northern Ontario. And making these areas off limits
to industrial uses helps ensure that the carbon there now doesn?t get
released and make things worse,? added Dr. Root.

The announcement widely cited the recommendations made by 1,500
scientists to the Canadian Government last May to set aside at least
half of Canada?s Boreal Forest in large, interconnected protected areas
to guard against climate change and protect internationally significant
wildlife populations (see
http://www.borealbirds.org/scienceletter.shtml). These concerned
scientists, led in part by Dr. Root, include some of the world?s most
notable ecologists, climatologists, and conservation biologists.

Scientists identify the 1.4 billion-acre Canadian Boreal Forest as one
of the world?s most significant and largest intact forest and wetland
ecosystems. The Boreal Forest:

? Is the world?s single-largest terrestrial carbon storehouse.
The Canadian Boreal Forest alone stores 186 billion tons of carbon ?
equivalent to 27 years of the world?s carbon dioxide fossil fuel emissions.
? Contains the majority of North America's fresh, unfrozen water.
? Hosts some of the planet?s largest populations of wolves,
grizzly bear and woodland caribou.
? Provides nesting grounds and nursery for billions of migratory
songbirds and waterfowl; half of North America?s birds are dependent on
Canada's Boreal Forest for their survival.

?The province of Ontario should be congratulated in its vision for
setting aside so much essential habitat for Boreal species,? said Dr.
Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Chair of Conservation Ecology at Duke
University. ?In its commitment to protect 50 percent of its remaining
intact forest, Ontario is setting an example for the rest of Canada and,
indeed, for other countries to follow.?

Dr. David Schindler, winner of the 1991 Stockholm Water Prize, water
sciences' equivalent to the Nobel Prize, added, ?Premier McGuinty has
long-term vision, recognizing that storing carbon, protecting
biodiversity, and traditional lifestyles and maintaining freshwater
supplies are more important than immediate profits. Now the rest of
Canada must set aside equivalent areas. The rapid disappearance of the
Boreal Forest is of particular concern in Alberta, where oil sands
development, logging, and mining exploration have damaged much of the
Boreal outside of Wood Buffalo National Park, a United Nations World
Heritage Site."

Scientists worldwide recommend that a target of 50 percent protection of
an ecosystem is necessary to sustain it over the long term. Overall,
only 10 percent of Canada?s Boreal Forest is currently protected.
?Ontario?s announcement of its intent to protect 55 million acres of
Boreal forest is a breath of fresh air to a world besieged by stories of
biodiversity loss,? said Dr. Peter Raven, president of the Missouri
Botanical Garden. ?It is especially noteworthy that Ontario followed the
recommendations of scientists in setting its conservation goals and one
would hope that it is a precedent for the world to follow.?

For the past decade, the Pew Environment Group, through its Canadian
Boreal Initiative project, has been working with First Nations,
industry, government and conservationists to preserve Canada?s Boreal
Forest, an internationally significant ecosystem for the world?s climate
and biodiversity. Industrial development, including logging, mining and
oil and gas extraction threaten Canada?s Boreal Forest.

###

Additional Background:
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty?s announcement widely cites scientific
recommendations, see
http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/news/Product.asp?ProductID=2353.

Ontario?s announcement underscores the significance of the Canadian
Boreal Forest?s global role as a carbon storehouse and the importance of
leaving that carbon in place by restricting disturbance. For further
background and mapping of carbon in Canada?s Boreal Forest see
http://www.borealbirds.org/resources/factsheet-IBCC-globalwarming.pdf

Additional information backgrounder and maps available on
www.interboreal.org.

Ontario?s sweeping conservation announcement is being widely heralded in
the press:
?Keeping Ontario Green?, Globe and Mail editorial, July 17, 2008 -
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080717.weboreal17/BNStory/specialComment/home
?Safeguarding the North?, Toronto Star editorial, July 16, 2008 -
http://www.thestar.com/article/460868
?Premier Gives ?nature?s way? a Chance?, Toronto Star , July 16, 2008 -
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/460876
?Ontario Moves to Protect Boreal Forest?, CanWest, July 14, 2008 -
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=20c31617-e007-42cf-b7d7-8f4e03c4b100
http://youtube.com/watch?v=q-aIsHsWZro