Friday for Forests

This Friday, Fridays for Future Toronto will be rallying it to call out the gutting of environmental protections by our provincial government. We will be rallying at 11 am and then marching down at 11:30 am to the Provincial Services Division of Natural Resources and Forestry, 99 Wellesley St W.

The climate crisis we face goes hand in hand with the world’s biodiversity crisis. A 2019 UN report on the state of biodiversity issued a dire warning–over a million species are at risk of extinction. The 2018 IPCC report told us we need forests and biodiversity to lower our greenhouse gas buildup. The science and Indigenous knowledge is clear: climate justice must include protections for nature and wildlife.

The Doug Ford government has not only weakened Ontario’s action on climate–it has also led an assault on nature by gutting environmental protections. The latest attack is a proposed “Forest Sector Strategy” that wants to double logging in the boreal forest with no mention of protections for wildlife nor for vital carbon storage. This is unacceptable!

After the usual rally at Queen’s park we will head over to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry office across the street to voice our disapproval for this plan, and to demand increased protection for forests and biodiversity, especially the endangered boreal caribou.