Close X
Sunday, November 10, 2024
ADVT 
National

Pledge to plant 2 billion trees lofty but attainable, Natural Resources minister says

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 02 Aug, 2023 03:38 PM
  • Pledge to plant 2 billion trees lofty but attainable, Natural Resources minister says

Canada's plan to plant two billion trees by 2030 is ahead of schedule, but mitigating the effects of climate change is as important as adapting to them, says Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson. 

The minister was in Surrey, B.C., Wednesday to tout the federal government's pledge to plant two billion trees, saying the plan is on track and even exceeding its targets. 

"We are focusing a good chunk of this program increasingly on the reforestation of areas burned by forests, but as I say, the challenge of climate change, we've talked a lot about the need for us to reduce carbon emissions to actually ensure that we're not making the problem worse," Wilkinson said. "The reality is that we are going to actually have to focus far more on adaptation."

Wilkinson said in the first two years of the Trudeau government's tree-planting pledge, 110 million trees have been planted, exceeding early targets of 90 million trees during that period.  

The minister said in an age of record wildfires and devastating floods, tree planting is an important step in mitigating climate change-related disasters.

The commissioner of the environment said in a report earlier this year that the government is unlikely to reach the two-billion target or get the expected emission reduction targets that go with it.

“There is no solution to climate change and terrestrial biodiversity loss that does not include forests,” Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco’s report said. “It is unlikely that the two billion trees program will meet its objectives unless significant changes are made.”

Wilkinson said the audit didn't cover a six-month period when a number of agreements with provinces were signed, and his government is working to include a "robust" planting monitoring program.

The minister said the first few years of the planting pledge included time to find suitable seedlings that take years to grow to planting size, and that volumes to meet the two-billion tree pledge will ramp up in the years ahead.

"The unfortunate reality is that the effects of climate change are with us, and extreme weather events are things that we should be expecting to happen more frequently going forward," he said. "If we don't address the climate issue in a substantive way, we are going to leave a future for our kids that is unmanageable."

With the 2021 floods in B.C., current fires across the country and Hurricane Fiona's devastating blow to Nova Scotia, Wilkinson said the focus on adapting to climate change is as important as attempts to mitigating its effects.

"Planting two billion trees is a marathon, it is not a sprint," Wilkinson said. "Thoughtful planning is required to ensure that the right trees are planted in the right place at the right time."

MORE National ARTICLES

Let's make a deal, Canada urges U.S. amid latest 'baseless' softwood lumber duties

Let's make a deal, Canada urges U.S. amid latest 'baseless' softwood lumber duties
International Trade Minister Mary Ng is making the overture after a fresh U.S. Commerce Department review maintained duties on softwood imports from Canada. Ng says the duties, while modestly lower, remain an unfair, baseless and punitive measure that hurts the economy on both sides of the border. 

Let's make a deal, Canada urges U.S. amid latest 'baseless' softwood lumber duties

B.C. police share photos of vehicles possibly being used in alleged abduction of kids

B.C. police share photos of vehicles possibly being used in alleged abduction of kids
Mounties in Surrey say they continue to investigate leads and tips in their search for eight-year-old Aurora Bolton and her 10-year-old brother Joshuah, who were allegedly abducted by their mother Verity Bolton earlier this month. 

B.C. police share photos of vehicles possibly being used in alleged abduction of kids

B.C. RCMP arrest Surrey massage therapist on multiple sex assaults

B.C. RCMP arrest Surrey massage therapist on multiple sex assaults
A massage therapist is facing multiple sexual assault charges for what police in Surrey, B.C., say are allegations that span a 16-year period. RCMP say they first received a report in November 2021 about alleged sexual assaults occurring in 2016 and 2017 involving massage therapist Leonard Krekic.  

B.C. RCMP arrest Surrey massage therapist on multiple sex assaults

Williams Lake Mountie charged three years after car crash with suspect

Williams Lake Mountie charged three years after car crash with suspect
The prosecution service says the Mountie faces charges of assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, criminal negligence and dangerous driving. Prosecutors say the charges against Const. Madeline Hjelden stem from an on-duty motor vehicle incident in Williams Lake, B.C., that occurred in May 2020. 

Williams Lake Mountie charged three years after car crash with suspect

Assault with a weapon in Newton, One in hospital

Assault with a weapon in Newton, One in hospital
On Thursday, at 10:07 a.m., Surrey RCMP responded to the report of an assault with a weapon in the 12900-block of 68 Avenue. Upon arrival police located a 20-year-old man suffering from apparent stab wounds.

Assault with a weapon in Newton, One in hospital

B.C. judge allows cannabis 'fire sale' to stave off CRA destruction threat

B.C. judge allows cannabis 'fire sale' to stave off CRA destruction threat
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has approved the bulk sale of more than 1,200 kilograms of cannabis by a company after the Canada Revenue Agency threatened to destroy it.  The agency had earlier declined to renew the company's excise tax licence due to financial difficulties.

B.C. judge allows cannabis 'fire sale' to stave off CRA destruction threat