Canada has reduced deforestation over the past 20 years.
Canada is fortunate to be rich in many natural resources, such as trees, water, oil and gas. While resource development and industrial activity have increased deforestation in localized regions, nationwide Canada has been able to consistently reduce deforestation over the past 20 years – a trend that is expected to continue. While oil sands development has increased in recent years, the area of land it occupies is very small relative to the size of Canada’s forests. In fact, the total area of mineable oil sands (i.e., including both developed and undeveloped areas) occupies 480,000 hectares, while Canada has 348 million hectares of forests.
The Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada is collaborating with the oil and gas sector to identify ways to reduce the amount and impact of development on forest ecosystems and to accelerate the reclamation of land disturbed by mining or oil and gas extraction.