Canadian Timber Companies Sign Environmental Agree
Vancouver, BC, April 13--Forestry firms Tembec Inc. and Domtar Inc. unveiled separate agreements with environmental groups on Tuesday, including one campaigning to curb logging in Canada's boreal forests.
Tembec has agreed with ForestEthics to identify and protect endangered areas in the boreal forest, a belt of an estimated 560 million hectares of pine, spruce, aspen, poplar and larch trees running from the Atlantic Ocean to the Alaska border.
Green groups say the boreal forest represents about 25 percent of the world's remaining intact forests, and provides key habitat to species ranging from grizzly bears and caribou to songbirds.
Domtar said it has struck a deal with the Rainforest Alliance to endorse the company's new line of coated and uncoated paper products that will be made with fiber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Environmental groups have pressured the timber industry to use the FSC to certify their environmental practices, but many firms have said they want to use other certification organizations.
Environmentalists have tried to put pressure on companies logging in the boreal forests by targeting their major consumers, such as the women's clothing chain Victoria's Secret, which uses pulp and paper for its catalogs.
ForestEthics plans to stage demonstrations outside 100 Victoria's Secret stores in the United States on Thursday, according to a spokeswoman for the group.
