Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Réjean Gagnon and I work at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, where I am Director of the Consortium de recherche sur la forêt boréale commerciale.
The main objective of our research work is to ensure resource sustainability. We are specialists in natural forest regeneration as well as in the environmental parameters that influence tree growth. Our work is mainly concentrated on the forests of Eastern Canada. One of the characteristics of Eastern Canada is the presence of a particular species, the black spruce. We are specialized in the growth of this species. The black spruce is very abundant in Eastern Canada, but it is rare elsewhere in the world. It is a strictly North American species and the largest stands of black spruce in the world are found in Eastern Canada. This is why our university has become a specialist on the parameters and ecology of these forests.
I wish to thank the members of the Committee for having given me the opportunity to speak to you today. As a biologist and ecologist, I am very concerned by the fact that in a not too distant future — we are talking here of 2050 —, there will probably be nine billion people living on this earth. At present, our access to an abundant natural resource, oil, ensures our affluence and offers us many possibilities, but this resource is not renewable and we can of course not base our country's development on it. We are going to need oil, but it is not a renewable resource.
This is why most of my work pertains to forests. We know that the forest is a natural and renewable resource.
In our view, wood is our material of choice environmentally speaking. Indeed, as everyone has said, it is non-toxic, it captures CO2, it is renewable, recyclable and compostable, and it is an abundant source of materials such as paper, cardboard, lumber, firewood and biomass. This material also feeds our cogeneration plants and we will also be able down the road to produce cellulosic ethanol and all kinds of other such products.
The main question is that of knowing if the wood harvesting methods used today will guarantee us supply in the future. We of course have many concerns in this regard.
You may have seen a film that shows forests that do not renew themselves after a cut. The title of the film is L'Erreur boréale, and it is by Richard Desjardins. I do not know if any of you have had the opportunity to see this film. Upon seeing the film, one could have the impression that forestry has no future. We must not forget that this film was not about forestry, but was rather an anticapitalist indictment. The film uses the forest industry to show that unbridled capitalism has no place in Canada. The film also questions the social acceptability of wood harvesting. Here, out East, and more particularly in Quebec, we are asking ourselves many such questions.
Generally speaking, people are not that much in favour of wood harvesting. You have to find ways to convince our people that trees can be harvested. I believe that in order to do that, people must understand what wood is used for. Wood must not serve only to fill the pockets of big companies, and people must also see that wood is our best environmental choice.
Here, the situation is somewhat different compared with what exists elsewhere in the world. In Quebec, we mainly work with natural regeneration. Close to 80% of our forests naturally regenerate themselves. One of the consequences of this situation is that we do not practice intensive forestry. Our forests' productivity is not that high because we rely mainly on natural regeneration.
Our aim is to put back into production our forests as they exist today. We however work with a natural process, the great advantage of which is that it maintains the original species and allows for their generation from local parent trees. In terms of the maintenance of biodiversity, Quebec's tree harvesting is in a good position. It is a good starting point. We do not have too much difficulty maintaining species.
In Eastern Canada, we have been harvesting trees for more than 100 years. In your opinion, how many species, both plant and animal, have disappeared through tree harvesting? Would it be two, five or eight species? According to biologists, no plant nor animal species has disappeared due to tree harvesting. That does not mean that no species has disappeared for other reasons, for example trapping.
In boreal forests, there is a natural problem, that of fires. I know that many fires occur in Western Canada and in other regions of the country, but there a lot of forest fires in Eastern Canada. One species in particular, the black spruce, has adapted to fire, but this adaptation is not very good. Consequently, if the rate of occurrence becomes too high, this species will regress. According to our recent studies, packed black spruce forests have regressed by 9% over the last 50 years, becoming open woodland areas. This rate is extremely high and rather exceptional. This is however a natural regression, and I wish to insist upon that fact. It is natural: it is not due to forest harvesting but to frequent forest fires.
We have developed tools for reforestation. With regard to CO2 fixation, much of our lands that are today considered to be unproductive could be put back into production. We could book them as new lands for CO2 sequestration.
Our main challenge in Quebec is La Relève, those who will replace us. Few students are interested in the forestry sector. Very few young people are signing up in our schools to become forestry technicians or engineers. We see the same problem with wood processing training. This is why we have for five or six years now been predicting a real labour shortage. Furthermore, we are most certainly going to be faced with a similar problem in Eastern Canada in the area of forestry research and other specialized forest-related disciplines.
In closing, I would recommend that the Canadian government encourage, through all the means at its disposal, the use of wood in the construction of both public and commercial buildings.
Thank you.