By Steve Painter
Canadian environmentalists are fighting plans by the New Brunswick provincial government to spray the region's forests with insecticide for the 40th year running. Opponents of the plan say this is probably the longest sustained chemical intervention in a forest ecosystem in history.
There is evidence the spraying, to control spruce budworm, also harms other species. The Canadian Wildlife Service estimates more than 170,000 birds could die as a result of the chemical bombardment. Species most vulnerable to the spraying have already declined sharply in eastern North America in the past decade.
Forest activists say long-term spraying has also led to the stagnation of New Brunswick's forests and perpetuation of budworm infestations longer than any others in recorded history. They say forests and forest industries in eastern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island are now thriving after budworm spraying was dropped due to public opposition, in the midst of an epidemic, in the late 1970s. Activists also say the New Brunswick government is acting in violation of international law on migratory birds.
Meanwhile, a recently released government report paints a gloomy picture of the rest of the country.
The report predicts the disappearance of British Columbia's old growth forests due to logging and population pressures within 16 years, and notes that more than 300 chemical contaminants have been detected in the Great Lakes, which contain 20% of the world's surface fresh water. It warns of serious threats to human health.
The wheat belt lands of the western prairies have lost 50% of their original organic matter, making them vulnerable to erosion, 14,000 lakes are dead due to acid rain, atmospheric carbon dioxide is increasing and the northern ozone layer is thinning.
While the government has adopted a C$6 billion Green Plan to deal with some of these problems, Jim MacNeill, a former secretary general of the Brundtland Commission, argues that it doesn't go to the root of the problem. He says the plan is almost neutralised by energy policy alone, as the government is subsidising fossil fuels to the tune of $4 billion. Only $40 million is allocated to promoting energy efficiency. Canada is one of the world's biggest energy consumers and third largest emitter of carbon dioxide.
Bill Rees of the University of British Columbia adds that in discussions with the department of energy he was "finally told that the government is committed to supporting the existing industrial infrastructure ... which I believe means the oil and gas industry and the automotive sector", he told New Scientist's Penny Park.