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Lessons from abroad

January 7, 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Doug Skeates

The most valuable resource on the planet is land.  It has been a real insight living and working in various parts of the world and especially in Third World countries.  Those with little else in life tend to make use of every available square foot of land, benefiting from what it is able to yield.  Time spent in Kenya was a revelation, observing villages being built of mud with thatched roofs of locally collected grass.  A common sight was cattle grazing on grass growing right up to roadsides looked after by young teenagers. 

Returning to Canada exposed a different story. Driving through the countryside exposed us to a wasteful approach to land use.  An interesting report early in the last century recounted the shipment of logs and lumber from the Angus area of Ontario.  Twelve trainloads of such produce passed from the railway station in Angus weekly, wood from the area going to market.  At one time forests of four-foot-diameter white pine were the primary cover contributing storage of wood carbon, carbon taken from the atmosphere and helping regulate ground water for agricultural and community use.  The end comment of the article noted that under sound management the region’s prosperity could have been maintained in perpetuity.  Today, much of such land is relatively unproductive.  Our most valuable resource, land, should contribute more to the province’s prosperity.  Forest cover which could be contributing to the area’s ecology tends to be poorly managed, covered to a great extent by shrubs.

Productivity of land is of increasing importance in many countries.  Experience on a farm in Guyana was a revelation.  Caribbean pine had been planted to provide shelter belts, protection for the owner’s dairy herd during harsh winter conditions.  The current owners are utilizing forest thinnings as a basis for lumber production but are also finding that resultant increasingly luxurious grasslands were an added resource contributing to greater milk production from their cattle, as well as more reliable water flow serving communities in lower elevations.

China has embarked on a massive reforestation program, a billion trees annually, aimed at reducing encroachment of the Gobi Desert.  Erosion was destroying agricultural productivity in rural areas and sand storms impacted on manufacturing potential in communities hundreds of miles away. 

Though global warming was not the primary motive, each additional tree established produces an annual ring of wood, storing carbon extracted from the environment.   Scan-dinavian countries have long recognized the value of maintaining forest cover as an energy source.  Throughout Europe there is more and more emphasis on renewable forms of energy, wind and sunlight replacing dependence on fossil fuels.  India is planting of 66 million trees this year with a goal of 95 million acres of plantation by 2030  to make the country green again.

The Great Green Wall of Africa, previously reported, is one of the most recent environmental developments, a 15 km belt stretching across the Sahel from the Atlantic to the Indian oceans is intended to stop encroachment of the Sahara Desert on agricultural lands in eleven countries.  New  forests are  already accounting for rising ground water levels, food productivity and reduced poverty levels in communities.

At one time before eliminating provincial reforestation, this province led the way with large-scale forest reestablishment of the ecology of southern Ontario.  The Oak Ridges Moraine had become largely desert lands with associated flooding of downstream communities and severe drought conditions in many rural portions of the region.  Some rivers had become perennial streams which restricted spawning.  Tree planting on lands which had reverted to municipal ownership, i.e. the now 300,000 acre county forest program, improved regional productivity and returned rivers to year round flow.

Land ownership is a key feature to increasing provincial prosperity.  Establishing additional forest cover not only contributes to reducing atmospheric carbon levels but also impacts on many aspects of human life. In cities, in rural settings and Canada’s vast boreal forests, trees direct a proportion of precipitation to underground aquifers as well as reducing levels of evaporation, a contribution to water conservation and improved agricultural productivity. Shade contributes to reduced energy requirements for homes as well as providing healthier living conditions.  

Canadians have  much to learn from world-wide examples of improved management of resource lands.


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