The Ancient Forests of North America are extremely diverse. They include the boreal forest belt stretching between Newfoundland and Alaska, the coastal temperate rainforest of Alaska and Western Canada, and the myriad of residual pockets of temperate forest surviving in more remote regions.
|
Ancient
forests are in crisis
 What is at stake? |
Together, these forests store huge amounts of carbon, helping to stabilise climate change, and they provide a refuge for large mammals such as the grizzly bear, puma and grey wolf, which once ranged widely across the continent.
In Canada it is estimated that ancient forest provides habitat for about two-thirds of the country's 140,000 species of plants, animals and microorganisms. Many of these species are yet to be studied by science.
| The Ancient Forests of North America
also provide livelihoods for thousands of indigenous people, such
as the Eyak and Chugach people of Southeast Alaska, and the Hupa
and Yurok of Northern California.
Of Canada's one million indigenous people (First Nation, Inuit and Métis), almost 80 percent live in reserves and communities in boreal or temperate forests, where historically the forest has provided their food and shelter and shaped their way of life. |
 © Greenpeace/McAllister |
Time to act
The US has already lost more than 94 percent of its ancient forest . And up to 85 percent of its remaining forest is under immediate threat. What's more, the US has refused to make a formal commitment to the CBD - thus, in effect, refusing to commit to saving its remaining biological and cultural diversity. Between 1990 and 2000 North America lost at least 12.3 million hectares of natural or ancient forest, and although, on paper, there has been some increase in the area of land designated for conservation - from 6.9 to 11.1 percent - in fact little of this is within the remaining intact ancient forests. Both Canada and the US are G8 countries, all of which committed at the 1998 G8 meeting in Birmingham to eliminate the trade in illegal timber. This commitment was reaffirmed at both the 1999 and 2000 G8 Summits. However, the US, in particular, continues to import indiscriminately from ancient forest regions - including the Amazon - where illegal logging is rampant.