Specifically, the environmental groups want to ensure the appropriate designation and early regulation of the 12 percent of the area that has been identified for protection and to identify additional areas for conservation within this Lands for Life region and north of the 51st parallel. They will also work to reform key aspects of forest management in northern and central Ontario and plan to participate in mining reform policy as it affects protected areas throughout the Lands for Life region. This requires protection of a representation of all ecological zones and seral stages across their natural range variation, conservation of viable populations of all native species in natural patterns of abundance and distribution, and maintenance of ecological processes. A means to achieving these objectives is forest certification, because certain standards have to be met in order to gain the right to label products as originating from well-managed forests. Consequently, over the next two years, WWF will provide scientific and strategic support to the Forest Stewardship Council by developing and testing FSC regional standards for the boreal forest in Ontario.
Standards set for Ontario are potentially applicable to other boreal forest regions.
Also, for forest certification to be successful, there needs to be market demand for certified wood and wood products. To this end, WWF plans to target a number of major consumers of paper, as well as the investment community, as a first step to stimulating market demand for certified wood products. In the past, the provincial government controlled reforestation through coordinated seed collection, centralized seed processing and source-identified nursery stock. Since the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources closed some nurseries and privatized others, there are no longer any control measures over the genetic integrity of seed and stock. A voluntary seed and stock certification program is needed to ensure a healthy forested landscape in southern Ontario.