March 5, 2018 Species Conservation Policy SAR & Bio Protection PUBLIC INPUT COORDINATOR Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry Policy Division Species Conservation Policy Branch 300 Water Street Peterborough Ontario K9J 8M5 Re: Amendments of Ontario Regulation 242/08 (General Regulation - Endangered Species Act, 2007) relating to forest operations in managed Crown forests The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry s proposed amendments to O. Reg 242/08. NRDC is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and on-line advocates in both the United States and Canada. For more than thirty years, NRDC has worked in partnership with Canadian Indigenous Peoples and environmental organizations to support sound environmental decision-making and preserve some of the world s most precious and iconic ecosystems. NRDC is deeply concerned by Ontario s proposal to extend the current Endangered Species Act (ESA) exemptions for the logging industry by two years. These exemptions undermine the most vital provisions in the ESA that prohibit the logging industry from harming or damaging the habitat of boreal caribou. Through this exemption extension, Ontario is undermining efforts to recover the threatened boreal caribou, which is both an indicator and umbrella species in Canada s boreal forest. Threats to Boreal Caribou in Ontario Boreal caribou in Ontario are rapidly losing their critical habitat, primarily due to logging and other development. 1 Already, their historic range in Ontario has been reduced by 40 to 50 percent, and they were listed as threatened in the province when Ontario s ESA came 1 Environment and Climate Change Canada, Report on the Progress of Recovery Strategy Implementation for the Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), Boreal population in Canada for the Period 2012-2017, SPECIES AT RISK ACT RECOVERY STRATEGY SERIES, 2014, http://registrelepsararegistry.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=en&n=7037fce4-1. 1
into effect in 2008. 2 Ontario s own maps show degradation extending across the province s southern boreal region. 3 As of 2014, only two of Ontario s thirteen woodland caribou herds were considered self-sustaining. 4 Without a change to its rate of population decline, it is estimated that the boreal caribou will be locally extinct in Ontario within 76 years. 5 Under the federal caribou recovery strategy, provinces should ensure no more than 35 percent of each boreal caribou range is degraded, in order to give caribou a 60 percent chance at long-term survival. However, in many ranges, such as the Brightsand and Churchill, degradation already exceeds that amount. Between 2011 and 2015, disturbance in the Brightsand range increased from 43.4 to 45.4 percent, and from 38.4 to 44.1 percent in the Churchill range. 6 Other ranges have also experienced significant levels of degradation. 7 What Is Lost Under the Exemptions Despite industry claims to the contrary, Ontario s exemptions for logging operations under the ESA dramatically undermine caribou recovery in the province and will lead to further boreal caribou habitat degradation. While spokespeople of some logging companies claim that the Crown Forest Sustainability Act (CFSA) serves as an adequate substitute for the ESA, some of the most vital provisions of the ESA are absent from the CFSA. In particular, the CFSA permits more extensive disturbance and contains no provisions to promote the restoration of critical habitat a hallmark of the ESA. Under the ESA, the logging industry was not permitted to kill, harm, or harass species at risk. Doing so required approval from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF). Now, however, as Ontario s Environmental Commissioner determined in 2013, the exemptions do not allow MNR to say no to development in even the most at-risk habitats. 8 The CFSA s requirements are much weaker, requiring only that forest management plans (FMP) approved by the MNRF minimiz[e] adverse effects on plants and animals. As a result, with the ESA constrained, logging companies are permitted certain levels of harm to boreal caribou habitat. 2 COSEWIC, COSEWIC assessment and Status Report on the Caribou Rangifer tarandus, Newfoundland population, Atlantic-Gaspésie population, Boreal population in Canada, COMMITTEE ON THE STATUS OF ENDANGERED WILDLIFE IN CANADA, 2014, https://www.registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=en&n=46b86dc7-1&offset=1&toc=show. 3 P. Elkie & K. Green, Cumulative Impacts Monitoring 2016 Estimates, ONTARIO MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES, 2016, https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=f2299c23dc0a40e5803f8571a364a6dc. 4 Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNRF), State of the Woodland Caribou Resource Report, 2014, p. 47, https://dr6j45jk9xcmk.cloudfront.net/documents/3970/sowcrr-p2-final-aoda-01072015.pdf. 5 I.e. 91 years from 2003. J.A. Schaefer, Long-term range recession and the persistence of caribou in the taiga. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 17: 1435-1439, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.02288.x/abstract. 6 P. Elkie & K. Green, supra note 3. 7 Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNRF), supra note 4, p. 42. 8 Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Laying Siege to the Last Line of Defense: A Review of Ontario s Weakened Protections for Species at Risk, Nov. 2013, http://docs.assets.eco.on.ca/reports/specialreports/2013/2013-laying-siege-to-esa.pdf. 2
In addition, these exemptions ended the ESA s emphasis on the restoration of boreal caribou habitat. This threatens to have devastating consequences for boreal caribou since this species requires not just habitat protection, but also habitat restoration, in order to have a chance at long-term recovery. 9 By definition, for species at risk, survival is precarious, and any new adverse impacts to these species increase the risk of harm. 10 As such, failure to require the protection and recovery of habitat negatively impacts species like the boreal caribou s ability to survive long-term. 11 Prior to the 2013 exemptions, as a condition of permit approval, MNRF would often require that the logging operator develop a plan to achieve an overall benefit for the affected species. This meant that the logging industry had to take action to improve the relative standing of a species after taking into account the residual adverse effects to the species or its habitat that are authorized by the permit. This action had to include more than steps to minimize adverse effects on the protected species or habitats. The permitting process under the ESA, therefore, actively promoted species recovery, unlike the CFSA, which focuses on minimizing impacts. With the loss of the permitting process under the 2013 exemptions, however, this overall benefit requirement has been removed for the logging industry, 12 severely impairing boreal caribou habitat recovery. The Exemptions Widespread Impacts Allowing the continued degradation of boreal caribou critical habitat will have widespread impacts on Indigenous Peoples, Ontario s international reputation, numerous boreal species, and global climate change. Much boreal caribou critical habitat lies in the territories of Indigenous Peoples, who have relied upon the boreal forest and its species for millennia. For many Indigenous communities, boreal caribou are central to their economies and ways of life, which is why many Indigenous Peoples across Canada are calling for the implementation of plans that would protect caribou and traditional interactions with them. Allowing the rampant degradation of caribou habitat will have devastating impacts on Indigenous Peoples and undermine Canada s commitments under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). In addition, permitting the continued degradation of boreal caribou habitat threatens myriad other boreal species. Caribou are an important indicator species for the boreal forest; when their populations are in decline, it signals broader threats to the surrounding 9 Jeffers, J. (2008). Reversing the Trend towards Species Extinction, or Merely Halting It? Incorporating the Recovery Standard into ESA Section 7 Jeopardy Analyses. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY, 35(3), 455-489. 10 Id. 11 Richard Webster, Habitat Conservation Plans Under the Endangered Species Act, 24 SAN DIEGO L. REV. 243, 254 (1987). 12 Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Managing New Challenges: Annual Report 2013/2014, 2014, http://docs.assets.eco.on.ca/reports/environmental-protection/2013-2014/2013-14-ar.pdf. 3
ecosystem. 13 Furthermore, since boreal caribou require large habitat ranges, they act as an umbrella species. This means that protecting their habitat can also protect many other species of flora and fauna. 14 The boreal caribou s unique position as both indicator and umbrella species means that their fate is inextricably tied to that of the boreal forest. Ontario s proposed exemptions also risk tarnishing Ontario s reputation in the global marketplace, at a time when U.S. and international purchasers of forest products are calling on the province to protect boreal caribou. Last fall, companies with a market cap value of almost $600 billion expressed their desire to purchase forest products that do not come at the expense of boreal caribou. 15 Given that Ontario exports approximately one-third of its forest products to the United States, acting as a sustainable source of forest products will be important for Ontario to maintain its reputation for sustainable forestry. 16 On a global scale, Ontario s proposal could contribute to the disruption the world s climate, as these exemptions permit the further erosion of Canada s boreal forest one of the world s most important carbon storehouses. There is significant overlap between caribou habitat and areas particularly effective at sequestering and storing carbon. The Canadian boreal forest s soils, plants, and wetlands hold more than 12 percent of the world s landbased carbon stock 17 an amount equivalent to more than 36 years of global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. 18 Annually, Canada s boreal sequesters an estimated 113.4 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent to the emissions from 24 million passenger vehicles. 19 13 Jennifer Lamson, Canada s Woodland Caribou at a Conservation Crossroad, PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS, 2016, http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/analysis/2016/02/18/canadas-woodland-caribou-ata-conservation-crossroad. 14 O. Bichet et al., Maintaining Animal Species Assemblages Through Single-Species Management: The Case of Threatened Caribou in Boreal Forest, ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS, 28(2), 2018, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/15-0525/abstract. 15 Hey, Canada! Protect Woodland Caribou, BEN & JERRY S, Oct, 18, 2017, https://www.benjerry.com/whatsnew/2017/10/protect-woodland-caribou. 16 Natural Resources Canada, Statistical Data, https://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/statsprofile/trade/on (accessed March 1, 2018). 17 R. Lal, Soil Carbon Sequestration Impacts on Global Climate Change and Food Security, SCIENCE 304, no. 1623 (June 2004). 18 The global terrestrial carbon stock is often estimated at 2,500 gigatons. Id. Recent studies of the boreal forest carbon stock have found a median value, based on existing research, of 1,095 gigatons. C. Bradshaw & I. G. Warkentin, Global Estimates of Boreal Forest Carbon Stocks and Flux, GLOBAL AND PLANETARY CHANGE, 128, no. 27 (May 2015): p. 26. With 28 percent of the boreal located in Canada, we estimate that around 12.3 percent of the global terrestrial sink, or 306.6 gigatons, is located in Canada s boreal forest. Natural Resources Canada, 8 Facts About Canada s Boreal Forest, http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/forests/boreal/17394 (accessed August 30, 2017). Global greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels totaled just under 8.4 gigatons in 2007, and we have used this number in our calculations. M. Z. Jacobson, AIR POLLUTION AND GLOBAL WARMING: HISTORY, SCIENCE, AND SOLUTIONS (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2012), p. 301 19 This boreal region estimation is based on estimates finding that the mean carbon flux for the Canadian boreal region is 0.056 Mg C/hectare per year. Canada s boreal region covers 552 million hectares (slightly more than the area covered by boreal forest), resulting in total positive flux (sequestration) of 30.9 million metric tons of carbon per year. Converted to carbon dioxide, this totals 113.4 million metric tons per year. Bradshaw and Warkentin (2015), p. 29. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Greenhouse Gas 4
Clearcutting releases this carbon into the atmosphere, turning the boreal forest from a carbon sink into a carbon source. According to NRDC estimates, in Ontario, where clearcutting averages 318,000 acres each year, this annual harvest releases 8.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over the ensuing 27 years while the forest begins recovering. 20 By failing to protect boreal caribou critical habitat, Ontario severely undermines its position as a climate leader in Canada. Recommendations Having already missed the federal deadline for submitting boreal caribou range plans based on the federal government s 2012 Recovery Strategy, Ontario will further undermine efforts to protect boreal caribou by exempting the forestry industry from science-based conservation requirements. We urge Ontario to allow these exemptions to expire and implement mandatory and enforceable protections for boreal caribou critical habitat, developing these protections in close partnership with Indigenous Peoples. These protections should ensure that no more than 35 percent of each caribou range is degraded, as outlined in the federal government s 2012 Boreal Caribou Recovery Strategy. As part of these efforts, Ontario should facilitate Indigenous-led habitat protection. Indigenous Peoples have lived sustainably with Canada s boreal landscapes for thousands of years and many are in a unique position to lead broadly beneficial land-use plans for the boreal forest. Ontario should act to position Indigenous-led land-use planning as central to its policies to protect boreal caribou habitat. The proposes amendments to Ontario Regulation 242/08 prioritize nearly unchecked industrial development at the expense of the traditional practices of Indigenous Peoples, umbrella species like the boreal caribou, and the global climate. We urge Ontario to reconsider its proposal to extend this species-threatening policy for two more critical years. A failure to enforce the Ontario s ESA on the logging industry risks undermining the confidence of the international marketplace in the sustainability of forest products sourced from the province. As the destination for over 80% of the forest product exports from Ontario, the U.S. marketplace has a responsibility to ensure that its demand does not come at the expense of the boreal caribou and Indigenous communities. Ontario has the opportunity to protect some of its most treasured species and landscapes, and we call on Ontario to embrace the leadership it previously sought on boreal caribou protection. Equivalencies Calculator, www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator (accessed August 30, 2017). 20 Natural Resources Defense Council, Pandora s Box: Clearcutting in the Canadian Boreal Unleashes Millions of Tons of Previously Uncounted Carbon Dioxide Emissions, 2017, https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/pandoras-box-clearcutting-boreal-carbon-dioxide-emissionsip.pdf. 5