(22-Oct-09) The extent to which pollution from tar sands industrial activities in northeastern Alberta, Canada affects ecosystem and human health is a matter of growing concern that is exacerbated by uncertainty. This new research paper finds that:

• present levels of some contaminants pose an ecosystem or human health risk, the effects of which deserve immediate and systematic study
• projected tripling of tar sands activities over the next decade may result in unacceptably large and unforeseen impacts to biodiversity, ecosystem function, and public health
• the attention of the world's scientific community is urgently needed

(27-Sep-09) A new report by Global Forest Watch Canada provides estimates of land use changes, biological carbon content and consequent potential greenhouse emissions due to existing and future surface mining and in situ extraction of bitumen in Alberta, Canada.

• Click here to see the press release.
• Visit the downloads page to download the report, plus maps and photographs!
  

(08-July-09). GFWC prepared this report under the direction of five environmental organizations, in support of the Government of Alberta's direction in the Terms of Reference for the Regional Advisory Council of the Lower Athabasca Plan in Alberta. The report records the methods used to identify sites of high conservation priority and presents a map of conservation priority areas in the Lower Athabasca land-use planning region.

• Click here to view/download the report (High res PDF, 17.5 MB).

(25-June-09) A report of Nova Scotia's forest landscapes, released today by Global Forest Watch Canada, reveals the dramatic pace and scale of recent human-caused changes due to industrial activities in recent decades. GFWC examined old and new satellite images for almost the entire area of Nova Scotia and combined what we saw with existing information in order to map the industrial-caused changes, primarily logging, that have occurred throughout much of the province since 1990. The resulting maps and analyses paint a stark picture of industry's impacts.

• Click here to read the press release.
• Visit the downloads page to download the report, plus maps and photographs from the report! You can also order a hard copy at Lulu:
  
• Visit the Data Warehouse to download the GIS data.

(09-Apr-09) A federal government scientific report released today utilized Global Forest Watch Canada's national dataset on industrial disturbances to identify the "critical habitats" of nationally threatened boreal population of woodland caribou. This iconic species is a symbol of Canada's boreal forest wilderness and is the flagship species for boreal forest conservation in Canada.

• Click here to see our press release on this topic and view a map on cumulative access in Canada's forests.
• Visit the Data Warehouse to download GFWC's combined access data set.
• Click here to download "Scientific review for the identification of critical habitat for woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), boreal population, in Canada"

(02-Apr-09) Global Forest Watch Canada is very pleased to make available our two-part atlas, The Last Great Intact Forests of Canada: Atlas of Alberta. We are providing this atlas in the hope that it will assist Albertans in their efforts to sustainably manage their important forest legacy; its production was triggered by the recent Alberta Government release of Alberta's Land-use Framework. Our atlas of Alberta's last great intact forest landscapes reveals a dramatic reduction in large blocks of Alberta's natural boreal forest landscapes due to the expansion of industrial activities in recent decades. Part I of the atlas provides context and maps of Alberta's intact forest landscapes; Part II focuses on the threats to these forests.

• Click here to see the press release.
• Visit the downloads page to download the atlas, plus maps and photographs from the atlas! You can also order hard copies of both Parts I and II of the Atlas at Lulu: