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Commonwealth NGOs
related to forestry | | |
 Boreal Forest Network
HQ address: 3rd Floor, 303 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2B4
Canada
Email: michelle@borealnet.org
Website: http://www.borealnet.org
Region: Americas
Type of Organisation: NGO,
Interest in Forestry: central
Description:
The Boreal Forest Network is an organization of environmentalists, indigenous peoples and scientists
concerned with the protection and sustainable use of the boreal forest, one of the three great
forest systems of the world. We are the North American arm of the international Taiga Rescue Network,
founded in 1992 during an international conference in Jokkmokk, Sweden.
The boreal forest - or taiga- is an almost continuous band of coniferous forests circling Arcticgra.jpgthe
countries of the Circumpolar North. Though it is under increasing pressure from forestry, oil and
gas exploration, mining and hydro mega-projects, little is known internationally of its plight outside
of the boreal region itself. The boreal is also home to almost a million indigenous people, many of
whom retain a strong connection with their cultures and traditions and value their traditional economies.
Our expertise lies in our grassroots and indigenous participant groups found throughout Canada and Alaska.
We subscribe to the theory of 'globalization from below' - creating conditions for
grassroots groups to achieve change through coalition and capacity-building. Our network includes some
of the largest and most successful environmental groups in Europe as well as some of the
remotest and most impacted First Nations in Canada.
This range gives us an eye to reality on the ground, as well as access to some of the most powerful
players in the environmental field. We are involved with the karta.jpgWorld Resources Institute's
Global Forest Watch, we have testified in front of the Canadian Senate's Boreal Forest Subcommittee,
we began a call for a social impact assessment of timber trade liberalization schemes at the
WTO which has since been picked up by other groups, and we have broadened our contact base into the
US in building a powerful, credible coalition to influence the North American timber trade.
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