Thanks.
My name is Monique Frison. I'm a director general at the Canadian Forest Service at Natural Resources Canada. We want to thank the commissioner for the audit on forest and climate change.
I just wanted to note that we agree with all but one of the recommendations from the commissioner. We are working very closely with Environment and Climate Change Canada. We're working together on those recommendations.
Forests and other nature-based solutions are an integral part of the fight against climate change. Trees generate many long-term benefits, including the revitalization of fire-ravaged areas, creation of green jobs, enhancement of the well-being of Canadians, carbon sequestration and habitat for diverse species.
As Minister Wilkinson has said, the commitment to plant two billion trees is a “marathon....not a sprint”. The two billion tree program will yield the majority of trees planted toward our commitment. As it moves forward, we will keep our foundational principle top of mind, which is to plant the right tree in the right place for the right reasons.
The Government of Canada has made significant progress on its commitment to plant two billion trees. In August, we announced we had already planted over 110 million of those trees toward that commitment. We have agreements signed or under negotiation to plant 370 million trees by 2031, and there's more to come because we will continue to fund projects that provide a wide variety of benefits to Canadians.
Provinces and territories are key partners for us in implementing our objective of planting two billion trees. Minister Wilkinson has engaged with his counterparts since this summer and the fire season to reiterate his commitment to work collaboratively with them to deliver climate change adaptation and mitigation solutions for Canadians, not only to recover from the recent and past wildfires but also to adapt for the future.
On forest carbon, we will continue to partner with Environment and Climate Change Canada to produce world-class GHG estimates using methodology supported by more than 100 peer-reviewed research papers. We continue our efforts to stay current with the latest advancements in this field. For instance, budget 2023, as part of its investments in forests and in forest workers, included funding to improve our forest data and reporting. Our regular discussions with forestry experts and stakeholders mean we are aware of the best available science, data and best practices, as well as where we can improve. Our modelling tools will continue to evolve thanks to scrutiny by experts and peer-review processes.
We're proud that our reporting methods align with internationally accepted practices, as the commissioner has noted. This means we produce a “big picture” report that collectively reflects human impacts such as harvesting, regeneration, fire suppression and conservation. This method of reporting meets the reporting guidelines of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and it reflects guidance from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
To conclude, there is no solution to climate change without forests. Nature-based climate solutions are an integral part of the solution. The good news is that interest remains high in tree-planting among all our partners, whether they are municipalities, indigenous communities and governments, private companies, or provinces and territories.
I'll say this again: The process is a marathon, not a sprint, but every tree planted along the way to two billion provides benefits for Canadians for decades.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.