Our forests are the lungs of the earth

Conservation is a climate change solution

We can no longer deny that human activity and the emission of greenhouse gas emissions are causing an unprecedented warming of the Earth’s climate. The risks and impacts of global warming are becoming clear: increased flooding, heat waves and droughts; negative impacts on human health; mass species extinctions; and disruptions to natural ecosystems.

The world’s remaining intact and old-growth forests play a critical role in the fight against global warming. Deforestation and forest degradation account for nearly 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Forests absorb carbon, storing incredible amounts in trees, plants and soil. When these forests are cut, most of the carbon they hold is released back into the atmosphere.


Protecting forests protects our climate

Globally, we are seeing the loss of some tree species due to insect infestations, drought, wildfires and thawing permafrost—all impacts caused by climate change. These disturbances, when compounded with pollution and increasing development pressures, fragment forests, weaken their ability to withstand other impacts of climate change and hinder their potential to store carbon. We must work harder to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and to protect these forests, which ultimately protect us. 
Help us slow down Canada's fastest growing source of emissions: the Tar Sands >>

Changing resource management practices for a safe climate

Through our efforts to protect British Columbia’s coastal Endangered Forests in the Great Bear Rainforest campaign, we are directly helping to mitigate global warming with our refined land-management approach called ecosystem-based management.

Currently, we are working hard to bring this approach to other Endangered Forests, such as Canada's Boreal, and California’s Sierra Nevada.

A clean and safe future

While some forestry companies claim that the answer to climate change is to log forests in order to ‘store’ carbon in wood products, this is misleading. Protecting intact and old-growth forests so they can continue to absorb and store carbon is a key part of mitigating climate change.

Bold and immediate actions to reduce human production and use of fossil fuels are also critical in the fight against climate change. We say “no” to the development of dirty oil in a campaign against Canada’s Tar Sands, and “no” to coalbed methane projects, while encouraging a low-carbon future fueled by a clean energy economy.

While better options for companies and individuals to make the energy transition become available, our report, Voluntary Forest-Based Climate Offsets: Opportunities, Safeguards, and Principles, describes how you can offset your carbon footprint by helping to protect or restore primary forests, thereby reducing emissions from land use change or harvesting.