{"id":69,"date":"2026-03-23T01:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T01:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.sciencepicker.com\/?p=69"},"modified":"2026-03-23T01:40:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T01:40:00","slug":"loss-of-forests-canada-deforestation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/loss-of-forests-canada-deforestation\/","title":{"rendered":"The deforestation of Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The loss of forests, deforestation\nis progressing at a fast pace in the whole world. This issue of\ndeforestation gets much attention in tropical regions where rainforests are transformed\ninto agricultural lands. The large swaths of boreal forests are cut every year\nin colder climates. Canada has long enjoyed an excellent standing in terms of\nenvironmental stewardship. Canada\u2019s reputation is being seriously challenged as\nthe government is promoting aggressive policies on dropping climate change\ncommitments, fossil fuel exploitation, and muzzling federal scientists.\nWhat does the recent record of deforestation in Canada look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An important role in the global forest picture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Canada\u2019s use of its forest is significant because of the global importance of its wooded lands as 10% of the world\u2019s forests are located there. Most of this percentage is boreal forest, defined by stands of coniferous trees in subarctic regions. The boreal forests are far from roads and this isolation makes Canada the steward of much of the remaining \u201cpristine forests\u201d not fragmented by human activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Shutterstock.com\/lorenza62<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Net losses due to deforestation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since 1975, around 3.3 million\nhectares of Canadian forests were transformed into non-forest uses,\nrepresenting only 1% of the total forested areas. These new uses are mining of\noil and gas, agriculture, and also urban development. Such changes in land use\ncan truly be considered deforestation, as they result in permanent loss of\nforest cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does Cut Forests Mean Lost\nForest?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A much greater amount of forest is cut every year as part of the forest products industry. These forest cuts amount to around a half-million hectares a year. The main products issued from Canada\u2019s boreal forest are softwood lumber, plywood, and paper. Canada\u2019s forestry activities do not transform forests into pastures like in the Amazon Basin. Instead, forestry activities are performed as a part of management plans prescribing practices to encourage the natural regeneration of new seedling trees. Either way, the cutover areas will return to forest cover with only a temporary loss of habitat and carbon-storing capabilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Primary forests – A major concern<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The fact that most forests cut in Canada manage to grow back doesn\u2019t take us away from the fact that primary forest also continues to be cut-down at an alarming rate. Between 2000 and 2014, Canada was responsible for the greatest total loss (acreage-wise) of primary forest in the whole world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The loss of forests, deforestation is progressing at a fast pace in the whole world. This issue of deforestation gets much attention in tropical regions where rainforests are transformed into agricultural lands. The large swaths of boreal forests are cut every year in colder climates. Canada has long enjoyed an excellent standing in terms of environmental […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-and-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":594,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions\/594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}