Ben Parfitt

…last year’s effort to plant 300 million tree seedlings in Canada’s most forest-rich province was a remarkable achievement. Not only was it a record for a single year in BC, but it was achieved in the early throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. The planting effort was also notable because a tiny percentage of trees planted were courtesy of the federal government, which typically doesn’t stray into the provincial jurisdiction of forest management. As part of a suite of initiatives characterized as “real solutions to help tackle the climate crisis,” the federal government has committed to pay for two billion trees to be planted across Canada in 10 years. Ottawa claims that once those trees have grown sufficiently, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 12 million tonnes per year by 2050. But even at the best of times, such claims are dubious given the incredibly dynamic events at play in our forests. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access may require a subscription]