Deforestation/Reforestation

Deforestation is the permanent removal of forests where the land is converted to other uses such as agriculture or land development and globally accounts for 20 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions (almost eight billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year). Forests most vulnerable to destruction are in tropical regions of the world, where the rate of deforestation was estimated at 13 million hectares a year during the period from 1990 to 2005.

Deforestation in Canada accounts for only 0.4 per cent of global forest removal, and Canada has 91 per cent of its original forest cover, more than any other country.  A portion of deforestation is offset by increases in forest area through afforestation (the planting of trees on land that has been bare of trees for a long period of time).

New forests add to the earth's carbon sequestration pool. In 2005 it was estimated that 9400 hectares of new forest was created in Canada in areas that had not been forested for over 50 years. Sustainable forest management in Canada is not considered deforestation because harvested areas are quickly converted back to growing forest.