Most of the world’s original wild forests have been logged or developed, and only about 20 percent remains, mainly in the boreal (northern) and Amazon regions. Canada’s portion of the boreal represents more than 1.3 billion acres – more than 25 percent of the remaining intact forest on the planet.
If these ecosystem services from the boreal forests were counted in Canada, they would amount to roughly 9 percent of gross domestic product. That represents more than the GDP contribution of Canada’s huge mining sector, at 4 percent, or its booming energy industry, at 5.6 percent.
Global Forest Watch and the World Resources Institute are part of an international effort to map and document the extent of the world’s remaining forests using satellite data. For the latest boreal maps and reports, go to: http://newsroom.wri.org/newsrelease_text.cfm?NewsReleaseID=366
To view the September 27, 2006 article from Inter Press Service entitled “Forests Worth Far More Alive Than Dead,” where much of the above information was excerpted from, please visit: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34897
