A man who spent over 30 years researching old growth forests in British Columbia has issued a dire warning about their sustainability.
Andy MacKinnon says the world’s largest trees could face the same fate as elephants, whales and bison, animals that have been hunted to the brink of extinction.
Some of the trees date back to the Magna Carta, but MacKinnon says too many of them outside of protected areas and parks are being cut down.
MacKinnon, a former research ecologist with the provincial Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, says if the logging is not stopped, the forests will not survive.
Responding the pressure from environmentalists and First Nations, the B.C. government appears to be coming to grips with the threat.
Earlier this year, the government and a number of B.C. First Nations, signed the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement, which protects 3.1 million hectares of old-growth forests from loggers.
Coastal old growth rainforests store record high amounts of carbon per hectare.
Increased protection will result in an immediate reduction of carbon losses from logging.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.