Conflict over Boreal Forest in Canada

CONFLICTS OVER BOREAL FOREST IN CANADA
Name:
Grade Course:
Tutor`s Name:
(6th December 2012)
Conflicts over Boreal Forest in Canada
Introduction
The Canadian Boreal forest is among the largest forests and wetland ecological unit considered untouched in the world. It represents about 25 percent of the remaining intact forests in the world. Indeed, Boreal Forest is the only place left on the entire planet that has the ability to sustain a fully operating ecosystem with such abundances. This is based on the fact that, there are a wide range of wildlife like migrating songbirds, bears, wolves, lynx among others. Some of the wildlife supported by this forest is the largest on the planet, and some of them are the only ones remaining. A boreal forest provides not only habitat, but also livelihood to more than 700 Aboriginal communities in Canada. This community entirely depends on Boreal Forest for cultural identities, spiritual as well as economic values.
Boreal forest also hosts several lakes and wetlands, apart from acting as greatest carbon sink in the world. According to Anielski and Sara (2005), the environmental benefits from Boreal forest amounts much more, compared to resource extraction through mining, energy and forestry from the forest. Additionally, mining, forestry and energy extraction has been providing various resources that generate business opportunities leading to employment opportunities, translating to a wealthy nation, however this has been the major source of conflicts in Boreal forest. The aim of this paper is to outline the conflicts surrounding Boreal forest.
Free Entry Systems
Canadian industries especially the mining industry enjoys the freedom of accessing land with the aim of exploring minerals without any restriction. Across Boreal forest, there are various mineral exploitation activities taking place as permitted by the ‘free entry` tenure. Under this tenure, the mineral explorer needs just to register with the government after staking land as mineral claims; after which, the right to explore the resource is given by the government. As compared to other projects like forestry and agriculture, there are no public reviews, or prior planning in the process of staking mining resources. These reviews are only carried out after the mining project has attained an advanced stage. In addition, staking land without prior consultations is one issue that has been undermining the efforts made by regional planning departments in ensuring that resource and land utilization is fair and just.
Moreover, legal land rights in Canada have been accelerating Boreal forest conflicts year after year. According to Slanina (2008), land rights allow the one to lease or even own the surface interest for various purposes like tourism, agriculture or forestry. At the same time, the sub-surface interest can be leased or owned by another person for exploration purposes. In such a case, the surface owner is requ...