Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic Canada Indice de progrs vritable Atlantique THE GPI FOREST ACCOU

1
Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice
de progrès véritable - AtlantiqueTHE GPI
FOREST ACCOUNTS FOR NOVA SCOTIAHarvest
Practices SeminarTruro, 29November, 2001
2
What kind of world are we leaving to our children?

• Less fish in the oceans?
• Fewer old forests?
• Depleted soils?
• Fewer species of animals and plants?
• A poorer natural world?
• A dangerously warming world?
• Is this progress?

3
Economic and social legacy

• Higher crime / less security
• Job insecurity/student debt
• Rich-poor gap growing
• Child poverty up
• Voluntary activity down

4
Are we sending wrong message?

• Crime, pollution, sickness, greenhouse gases can
  make economy grow.
• Longer work hours, stress make it grow
• Unpaid work ignored
• Distribution of income ignored

5
GDP and Natural Capital

• GDP counts resource depletion as economic gain
  the more trees we cut, the more fish we sell, the
  faster we deplete our natural wealth the more
  the economy will grow, and the better off we
  are assumed to be.
• Like factory owner selling machinery

6
In the Genuine Progress Index

• Crime, pollution, sickness, greenhouse gas
  emissions, counted as costs not gain
• Unpaid work, equity, free time valued
• Natural resources are seen as capital assets
  subject to depreciation and requiring
  re-investment.

7
GPI Natural Resource Accounts Valuing Natural
Capital

• For example, forest functions / values include
• Preventing soil erosion/sediment control
• Protecting watersheds
• Climate regulation/carbon sequestration
• Providing habitat for wildlife / biodiversity
• Recreation, tourism, aesthetic quality
• Providing timber
• Healthy Forest

8
Volume 2, Figure 18
9
Provincial Area (hectares) of Clearcut Harvest
and Silviculture (000s seedlings), Nova Scotia
1975-1997
10
Volume 1, Figure 1
11
Volume 1, Figure 2
12
Volume 1, Figure 3
13
Volume 1, Figure 4
14
Volume 1, Figure 5
15
Volume 1, Figure 6
16
Volume 1, Figure 7
17
(No Transcript)
18
Natural Age Limits Maritime tree species

• White Ash 100-200
• American Beech 300-400
• White Birch 120-150
• Yellow Birch 150-250
• Eastn Hemlock 300-800
• Red Maple 100-150
• Sugar Maple 300-400

• Red Oak 200-350
• Red Pine 200-250
• White Pine 200-450
• Black Spruce 200-250
• Red Spruce 250-400
• White Spruce 150-200

19
Total Forest Area by Age Class
20
Old Forests Store More Carbon A new study
published in Science, reported that ...
replacing old-growth forest by young Kyoto stands
... will lead to massive carbon losses to the
atmosphere mainly by replacing a large pool with
a minute pool of regrowth and by reducing the
flux into a permanent pool of soil organic
matter. (Schulze et. al. 2000)
21
Provincial Value of Total Tree Carbon Storage in
Nova Scotia Forests 1999
22
Changes in Atlantic Bird Species Populations
23
Recreational Brook Trout Caught and Retained in
Nova Scotia 1975-1995
24
Angling Cost Per Fish, Nova Scotia 1975-1995
(1997)
25
GlobalValuation of Non-Timber Forest Ecosystem
Goods and Services applied to Nova Scotia Forest
Area
26
Volume 1, Figure 30
27
Volume 1, Figure 32
28
Volume 2, Figure 17
29
The Job Creation Potential of Value-Added Wood
Industries Full-Time Jobs Theoretically Created
with Set Volume of WoodVolume 2, Table 32
30
U.S. Employment Created by Various Timber
ProductsVolume 1, Table 12
31
Examples of Retail Prices for Varying Dimension
White Pine (Jan. 2001 prices)Volume 2, Table 29
32
Examples of Retail Prices for Varying Dimension
Spruce(Jan. 2001 prices)Volume 2, Table 30
33
Examples of Retail Prices for Clear vs. Knotty
White Pine(Jan. 2001 prices)Volume 2, Table 31
34
Machinery Costs for Large-Scale HarvestingVolume
2, Table 33
35
Clearcut harvesting and loss of natural age and
species diversity have resulted in loss of

• valuable species
• wide diameter and clear lumber that fetch premium
  market prices
• resilience and resistance to insect infestation
• wildlife habitat, decreasing populations of
  birds
• forest recreation values - impact nature tourism

36
This represents a substantial depreciation of a
valuable natural capital asset.

• a decline in forested watershed protection and a
  50 drop in shade-dependent brook trout
• soil degradation and the leaching of nutrients
  that can affect future timber productivity
• a substantial decline in carbon storage capacity
  and an increase in biomass carbon loss
• a decline in other essential forest ecosystem
  services.

37
The Good News Volume 2 Best Forestry
Practices in N. S.

• Selection harvesting increases forest value and
  provides more jobs
• Shift to value-added creates more jobs
• Restoration forestry is a good investment
• What incentives can encourage restoration