Boreal

WCS Canada Comments - Forest Degradation (followup 4)

Palmer, L., Harris, L., Cooke, H., Poley, L., & Ray, J.

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We primarily wish to convey our outstanding concern, as we have done in our previous four sets of comments, that the draft definition and suite of indicators approved by Canada’s Forest Ministers in June [2024], remain inadequate.

Key points

We stress the following concerns about the current definition:

1. Lack of explicit focus on ecological integrity
2. Removal of key defining features
3. Limitation of “direct” human impacts

There are also new and outstanding issues that remain with the indicators:

1. Introduction of “blue” indicators that may not ever be considered
2. Continued narrow focus on Sustainable Forest Management

We reiterate the following concerns about both the definition and indicators:

1. Operationalization
2. Continued focus on forest products markets

We strongly urge a return to the main elements of the definition proposed in February 2024 with adjustments of the indicators to enable explicit acknowledgement of the spectrum of ecological integrity.

Recommended citation

Palmer, L., Harris, L., Cooke, H., Poley, L., & Ray, J. (2024). WCS Canada Comments - Forest Degradation (followup 4). Wildlife Conservation Society Canada [WCS Canada]. https://wcscanada.org/resources/wcs-canada-comments-forest-degradation-followup-4/