ustainable forestry, economic
opportunity, community stabili-
ty, worker and public involve-
ment, environmental pro-
tection, reinvestment in our
forests: these are the elements
that make up our vision of a
strong, sustainable forest sec-
tor. This Forest Policy outlines our goals and
presents policies that would allow us to ad-
vance towards them.

This program balances our need for em-
ployment opportunities for a growing number
of Canadians with our concern for a clean en-
vironment and vibrant natural ecosystems. It
would ensure the stability and long-term fu-

@v of forest-based communities across
Canada. It would help underpin a strong
Canadian economy. And it would allow us to
produce high-quality products that respond to
the needs of Canadians and people all over
the world.

Ultimately this is our goal: to produce use-
ful products for humanity while ensuring the
long-term sustainability of our forests and
providing safe, secure opportunities in the
forest sector for current and future genera-
tions.

IW.A. CANADA is dedicated to
sustainable forestry

Our forests must be managed for long-term
sustainability.

That means we must constantly work to
find a balance between our environmental,
social and economic concerns.

It also means that we cannot take one-sided
positions that sacrifice biological diversity,
waterways or forest soil, any more than we
can ignore the needs of people, jobs, commu-
nities or the economy.

Forest management and forest practices.

must consider a wide range of values and re-
spond to numerous concerns. It takes careful
and reasoned analysis; research; consultation;
planning; careful design and construction of
forest facilities, sites and roads; monitoring
and enforcement. It also takes an ongoing
commitment to invest in new, environmental-
ly-friendly ways of harvesting timber; refor-
estation; intensive silviculture; research; prod-

uct development; training and new markets.
To achieve the balance we envision, forest
management must take into account the full
range of human concerns for our forests.
These include environmental considerations
or as biodiversity and our forests’ role in
e exchange of gases that makes life possible
on the Earth. It includes a commitment to
protect forest soils, waterways and the life-
forms that depend on them. It includes eco-
nomic factors such as employment creation,
the generation of wealth and export earnings;
it also includes social concerns, such as the
z health and safety of forest workers and the
preservation of viable communities based on

forestry.

Sustainable Forestry is
a “Green” Industry
In its ground-breaking report, Our Common
Future, the United Nations’ World Commis-
sion on Environment and Development fore-
saw “the possibility for a new era of economic
growth, one that must be based on policies
at sustain and expand the environmental re-
‘source base.”
The Commission also warned that “such
growth (is) absolutely essential to relieve the
poverty that is deepening in much of the
loping world.”
Sustainable forestry presents one of human-
all possibilities for realizing the Brunt-
Commission's vision.
Forestry, is after all, based on a renewable
ource. Properly conducted, forestry can

ensure a perpetual supply of wood, paper and
other forest-based products that human be-
ings need; it can also ensure the maintenance
of forest-based biodiversity without compro-
mise to rivers, lakes, streams, fisheries, soil or
natural features.

Canadian forestry, in particular, can make a ~

unique contribution: our young forests, act as
vitally needed carbon sinks;-lumber provides
human shelter at a lower ecological cost than
do potential substitutes; paper contributes vi-
tally to human communication and sanitation.
Canada’s forest industry is moving rapidly to-
ward more sustainable practices and increas-
ingly efficient production of wood and paper
products. We will continue to promote sus-
tainable management, environmentally-friend-
ly practices and beneficial use of timber.

Lumber, wood products and paper satisfy
essential human needs. Doing the work need-
ed to produce them is an honourable way for
Canadians to earn a living. We aim to expand
the diversity of our forest products and to get
greater value out of every unit of timber har-
vested.

At the same time, we believe that Canadi-
ans and others should produce domestically
at least the equivalent of the physical goods
that they consume. Every region should con-
tribute, from its renewable resources, its fair
share of the common wealth of the Earth. For
much of Canada, this means we should pro-
duce timber, paper and building materials as
sustainably as possible.

Strategies for Sustainability

It is essential, therefore, that we adopt
strategies that respect the needs of ecosys-
tems, not only economic return, by:

e ensuring that forest resources are har-
vested in ways that protect sensitive environ-
ments and have the least long-term impact on
the biological and physical health of forested
ecosystems, including soils, water and the
earth’s atmosphere, as well as the forests
themselves and the diversity of organisms
that find habitat there;

e adopting forest management techniques
that require extensive use of the land-base —
not the “closest-and-best” approach — and al-
low ecosystem factors to determine rotation
age;

e requiring the adoption and implementa-
tion of sound environmental standards;

° expecting forest operators to promptly
reforest harvested areas;

© encouraging measures that increase for-
est growth and yield, while still respecting
concerns for biodiversity;

e requiring greater energy efficiency in
both forest operations and manufacturing;

e insisting on more value-added production
to make sure we generate as much employ-
ment and wealth as possible from each unit of
timber harvested.

Policies for Sustainability

To achieve these goals, we urge govern-
ments across Canada to implement laws, reg-
ulations and guidelines that encourage sus-
tainable forestry and that require forest
companies to adopt sustainable practices. As
well, we will continue to press industry to
manage our forests for long-term sustainabili-
ty. The required policies include:

e forest practice codes that require strin-
gent practices with respect to timber harvest-
ing, reforestation, road construction, mainte-
nance of forest soils, respect for
water-courses and bodies of water and careful
log transport;

e tough but fair enforcement of forest prac-
tices law that includes regular monitoring and
auditing of forest operators’ performance on
the ground and their progress toward sustain-
ability;

"LWA. CANADA FOREST POLICY

Adopted by the Tenth Annual Constitutional Convention
of I.W.A. CANADA — November, 1996

e greater worker involvement in forest
planning and monitoring of forest practices,
through creation of operation-level environ-
ment committees;

e performance-based tenure arrangements
that balance the need to ensure worker safety,
job creation and community stability with the
need to ensure long-term planning of forest-
management and sustainable practices.

© occupational health and safety regula-
tions that give workers the leeway they need
to ensure their own safety and protect the
public from danger;

e right-to-refuse legislation that takes into
account the primary responsibility of forest
operators to respect environmental laws and
standards, but gives workers the ability to
both refuse work that is unhealthy or unsafe
and to refuse to act in an environmentally un-
sound way;

¢ harvest levels that aim at long-term sus-
tainability, phased in so that social and eco-
nomic impacts are reduced and workers and
communities have an opportunity to adjust to
the resulting change in available timber;

° creation of land reserves in which sus-
tainable commercial forestry is encouraged
and where operators will be expected to en-
hance growth and yield through intensive sil-
viculture;

° consistent with Canada’s commitment at
the Earth Summit in Rio, clearly defined and
economically and socially justified creation of
parks and reserves for the protection of biodi-
versity and special environmental features;

e public participation in legitimate land-use
planning processes, including full and fair
representation of forest workers and commu-
nities;

© guarantees of mitigative measures to sta-
bilize harvest levels, as well as compensation,
retraining support and transitional assistance
that will protect workers, their families and
their communities from the potentially severe
impacts of land-use decisions that remove
lands from the commercial forest;

© measures to stop the export of raw logs
and to stringently reduce export of virtually
unprocessed timber;

e investments in forestry research and de-
velopment, aimed at generating new, safe and
environmentally-friendly means of timber har-
vesting, reforestation, silviculture and better
end use, including value-added manufacturing
and other advanced processing; creating new
forest products and finding new markets for
forest products;

e commitments to increased training for
forest workers and investment in the training
and educational needs of people who work in
the forest sector and who live in forest-based
communities. Wherever possible, training
must lead to new opportunities in the forest _
sector and involve peer-training programs,
even when funded by industry or government
agencies.

Balancing Human Need and
Environmental Concern

Ultimately, it is our view that the social and
economic benefits of sustainable forestry
make it imperative that we learn to offset the
environmental impacts of timber harvesting
and forest practices, but that we also learn to
live with the inevitable disturbances of forest-
ed ecosystems and temporary environmental
impacts of sustainable forestry on the land.
While we strive to limit disturbance and mini-
mize impact, we must remember that we are
human beings and that we must transform na-
ture to live. There are many historical and in-
ternational reminders that human beings
make poor environmental decisions when
they are themselves poor.

Continued on page eighteen

LUMBERWORKER/APRIL, 1997/17