OTTAWA (CP) - Canada's forests and wildlife are in jeopardy due to short-sighted management and overcutting in the five major forestry provinces, says a scathing report by the Sierra Legal Defence Fund.

ADVERTISEMENT
 
The group studied conservation laws in the provinces with the highest levels of commercial forestry - New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia - and found little to cheer.

"The analysis found that forest conservation laws and policies in all five provincial jurisdictions is pathetic," says the report, which gives Quebec the highest mark at 43 per cent, and Alberta the lowest at 24 per cent.

The marks are based on 21 criteria relating to land-use planning, parks and protected areas, endangered species, use of pesticides and respect for aboriginal rights.

Scientist Elaine MacDonald, author of the report, said forests are worth more intact than as sources of wood fibre.

"There are not a lot of opportunities left in the world to preserve intact forests, and the boreal forest in Canada is one of those opportunities and it's being squandered."

Alberta scores poorly because its parks are open to industrial activity, and the province has no stand-alone endangered species law.

Avrim Lazar, president of the Forest Products Association of Canada, said the report looks at laws and policies rather than what's happening on the ground and insisted there has been great improvement over the past decade.

"We're not perfect but we're as good as anyone in the world and we're getting better. For every tree taken down we regenerate. We only operate on one half of one per cent of the forest every year."

Lazar said a growing number of Canadian companies are getting independent certification to prove their practices are environmentally sound, and such certification will become a condition of membership in the association.

"In terms of sustainable forest management practices, our companies are now living up to the most demanding standards globally and we have more area independently certified under these standards than any other country."

MacDonald of Sierra Legal Defence says only the credible certification is that of the Forest Stewardship Committee, based in Mexico. She said 16.6 million hectares of Canadian forest, about 10 per cent of the total, have that certification.

Rival standards put forward by the Canadian Standards Association and the U.S. Sustainable Forestry Initiative merely "certify the status quo," she said.

The federal government got a passing mark of 54 per cent because its endangered species legislation is stronger than that of any province, she said. But only a small portion of Canada's forests are under federal jurisdiction.