Trees clean the air, protect the amount and quality of water, and they shade people from the hot sun. Trees help cool buildings, provide fish and wildlife with habitat, and they contribute to a variety of recreational opportunities.
Trees store and keep carbon out of the atmosphere. They provide a variety of wood products (which also store carbon), provide employment, and help keep ecosystems functioning. Trees are important in towns and cities, on privately-owned rural properties, and on the vast reaches of natural areas throughout Ontario.
The Ministry of Natural Resources works with many partners to care for and manage Ontario’s forests, which encompass more than 712, 000 km2 and represent 2% of all forested land on Earth. Climate change will have a significant impact on Ontario’s forested ecosystems. The Ministry and partners have begun work to identify the impacts and to develop adaptation strategies.
The following report provides more information about the effects of climate change on Ontario’s forests and what the Ministry and our partners are doing to reduce the impacts.
More information about forests and climate change, can be found in the following reports and publications. Contact Applied Research and Development Branch for information on how to obtain these reports:
- Bird, D.N., and E Boysen. 2007. The Carbon Sequestration Potential from Afforestation in Ontario. Climate Change Research Information Note Number 5, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada. 4pp.
- Colombo, S.J., W.C. Parker, N. Luckai, Q. Dang, and T. Cai. 2005. The Effects of Forest Management on Carbon Storage in Ontario’s Forests. Climate Change Research Report CCRR-03. Ministry of Natural Resources, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. 113pp.
- Colombo, S.J., J. Chen, and M.T. Ter-Mikaelian. 2007. Carbon Storage in Ontario’s Forests, 2000-2100. Climate Change Research Information Note Number 6, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada. 8pp.
- Price, D.T., C.H. Peng, M.J. Apps, and D. Halliwell. 1999. Simulating Effects of Climate Change on Boreal Ecosystem Carbon Pools in Central Canada. Journal of Biogeography, 26: 1237-1248.
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Heather Bickle
