Pew Charitable Trusts [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/about/news-room/press-releases
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Statement
Pew Praises Manitoba’s Pledge to Support Indigenous Land-Use Planning in Boreal
Commitment entrusts First Nations communities to develop conservation and sustainable development plans
November 24, 2015
Background
The boreal forest stretches across 1.2 billion intact acres in Canada, from Yukon to Newfoundland and Labrador. The region covers 140 million acres in Manitoba alone, most of which (approximately 115 million acres) remains free from industrial development.
The boreal represents 25 percent of the world’s remaining intact forest and is one of the last continental-scale ecosystems still largely undeveloped. It harbors the planet’s largest expanse of wetlands, lakes, and rivers, and stores twice as much carbon per acre than tropical rain forests.
In its eight-year strategic plan for environmental stewardship and economic prosperity called TomorrowNow, which was initially released in 2012, the government of Manitoba pledged to develop a boreal plan that ensured the protection and sustainable development of the region…