Transcript The Nova Scotia GPI Forest Accounts

Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic Canada
Indice de progrès véritable - Atlantique
THE GPI FOREST ACCOUNTS FOR
NOVA SCOTIA
Harvest Practices Seminar
Truro, 29November, 2001
What kind of world are
we leaving to our
children?
•Less fish in the oceans?
•Fewer old forests?
•Depleted soils?
•Fewer species of animals and plants?
•A poorer natural world?
•A dangerously warming world?
•Is this progress?
Economic and social
legacy:
• Higher crime / less security
• Job insecurity/student debt
• Rich-poor gap growing
• Child poverty up
• Voluntary activity down
Are we sending wrong
message?
• Crime, pollution, sickness,
greenhouse gases can make
economy grow.
• Longer work hours, stress make it
grow
• Unpaid work ignored
• Distribution of income ignored
GDP and Natural Capital
 GDP counts resource depletion as
economic gain: the more trees we cut,
the more fish we sell, the faster we
deplete our natural wealth— the more
the economy will grow, and the
“better off” we are assumed to be.
 Like factory owner selling machinery
In the Genuine Progress
Index:
 Crime, pollution, sickness,
greenhouse gas emissions, counted as
costs not gain
 Unpaid work, equity, free time valued
 Natural resources are seen as capital
assets subject to depreciation and
requiring re-investment.
GPI Natural Resource
Accounts: Valuing Natural
Capital
For example, forest functions / values
include:
• Preventing soil erosion/sediment control
• Protecting watersheds
• Climate regulation/carbon sequestration
• Providing habitat for wildlife / biodiversity
• Recreation, tourism, aesthetic quality
• Providing timber
= Healthy Forest
Volume 2, Figure 18
Provincial Area (hectares) of Clearcut
Harvest and Silviculture (000’s seedlings),
Nova Scotia 1975-1997
80000
Clearcut (ha)
70000
# seedlings (000s) planted
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
97
19
95
19
93
19
91
19
89
19
87
19
85
19
83
19
81
19
79
19
77
19
19
75
0
Volume 1, Figure 1
Volume 1, Figure 2
Volume 1, Figure 3
Volume 1, Figure 4
Volume 1, Figure 5
Volume 1, Figure 6
Volume 1, Figure 7
Natural Age Limits
Maritime tree species
White Ash
100-200
American Beech 300-400
White Birch
120-150
Yellow Birch
150-250
East’n Hemlock 300-800
Red Maple
100-150
Sugar Maple
300-400
Red Oak
Red Pine
White Pine
Black Spruce
Red Spruce
White Spruce
200-350
200-250
200-450
200-250
250-400
150-200
Total Forest Area by Age Class
Percent
40
35
Nova Scotia
30
Windhorse Farm
25
20
15
10
5
0
0-20
21-40
41-60
61-80
81-100
101+
Old Forests Store More Carbon
A new study published in Science, reported that:
... replacing old-growth forest by young Kyoto stands
... will lead to massive carbon losses to the
atmosphere mainly by replacing a large pool with a
minute pool of regrowth and by reducing the flux into
a permanent pool of soil organic matter.
(Schulze et. al. 2000)
Provincial Value of Total Tree Carbon
Storage in Nova Scotia Forests 1999
US$ (millions)
1600
1400
Softwood
1200
Hardwood
1000
800
600
400
200
0
up to 20 21 to 40 41 to 60 61 to 80
81 to
100
101 + All aged Total
Changes in Atlantic Bird Species Populations
40
35
34
Increasing Population
Decreasing Population
30
Number of Species
32
25
22
20
20
15
10
5
0
1966-79
1980-94
Recreational Brook Trout
Caught and Retained in Nova Scotia 1975-1995
3
2.6
Number (millions)
2.5
2
2
2
1.8
2
1.5
1.3
Kept
1
1.2
Caught
0.6
0.5
0
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
Angling Cost Per Fish, Nova Scotia 1975-1995
(1997$)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
197 5
1980
1985
1990
1995
GlobalValuation of Non-Timber Forest
Ecosystem Goods and Services applied
to Nova Scotia Forest Area
Ecosystem
Service
Climate regulation
Soil formation
Waste treatment
Biological control
Food production
Recreation
Cultural
Total (not
including raw
materials)
Monetary
Value
(1997$/ha/year )
Total Flow Value for NS
(1997$millions/year total
forest)
$126.20
$14.34
$124.77
$5.74
$71.71
$51.63
$2.87
$534.0
$60.7
$528.0
$24.3
$303.4
$218.5
$12.1
$397.25
$1,681.0
Volume 1, Figure 30
Volume 1, Figure 32
Volume 2, Figure 17
The Job Creation Potential of
Value-Added Wood
Industries: Full-Time Jobs
Theoretically Created with Set
Volume of Wood
Volume 2, Table 32
U.S. Employment Created
by Various Timber
Products
Volume 1, Table 12
Logs to lumber
Lumber to components (e.g. furniture
parts)
Components to high-end consumer
goods (e.g. furniture)
3 jobs per million board feet
Another 20 jobs per million board
feet
Another 80 jobs per million board
feet
Examples of Retail Prices
for Varying Dimension
White Pine (Jan. 2001
prices)
Volume 2, Table 29
Examples of Retail Prices
for Varying Dimension
Spruce
(Jan. 2001 prices)
Volume 2, Table 30
Examples of Retail Prices
for Clear vs. Knotty White
Pine
(Jan. 2001 prices)
Volume 2, Table 31
Machinery Costs for LargeScale Harvesting
Volume 2, Table 33
Clearcut harvesting and loss of natural
age and species diversity have resulted
in loss of:
 valuable species
 wide diameter and clear lumber that fetch
premium market prices
 resilience and resistance to insect
infestation
 wildlife habitat, & decreasing populations
of birds
 forest recreation values - impact nature
tourism
 a decline in forested watershed protection
and a 50% drop in shade-dependent brook
trout
 soil degradation and the leaching of
nutrients that can affect future timber
productivity
 a substantial decline in carbon storage
capacity and an increase in biomass carbon
loss
This represents a substantial
• a decline in other
essential forest
depreciation
ecosystem
services.
of a valuable
natural capital asset.
The Good News:
Volume 2:
Best Forestry Practices in N.
S.
• Selection harvesting increases forest
value and provides more jobs
• Shift to value-added creates more jobs
• Restoration forestry is a good
investment
• What incentives can encourage
restoration