For years now, some environmental activist groups have been pointing the finger at Resolute and the forest products industry as the main reason why woodland caribou populations are under stress in the Canadian boreal forest. However, a recent op-ed by Bob Hoffman, local President of the Unifor union in Thunder Bay, makes a strong argument that these critics are missing the point.
As a trained forester and someone who has spent his entire career working and living around the boreal, Hoffman points out that any decline in caribou populations does not appear to be linked to wood harvesting in the boreal forest.
As many companies are aware, the forest sector has been downsizing and reducing its harvesting activities for decades, with annual harvest areas in recent years on par with industry activity in the late 1970s. At the same time, the forest products industry has dramatically improved sustainability through sustainable forest management certification, expansion of protected zones, and advanced harvesting and reforestation techniques. This should be improving the situation for woodland caribou, but apparently it is not.
It is likely that other factors like climate change may have a more significant impact. Climate change has stressed the northern environment in many ways, with wetter, icier winters that affect the lichens caribou feed on, and drier summers that lead to more forest fires and increase infestations by insects and parasites.
Concern about climate change is one of the main reasons Resolute has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund® (WWF®) Climate Savers program and worked to achieve a 67.5% reduction in our total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over 2000 levels, in addition to other ambitious goals.
Bob Hoffman believes climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is likely the key factor affecting boreal wildlife and suggests that activists should maybe refocus their efforts elsewhere.
You can view the full op-ed below.
