The Boreal Forest Logging Problem in Canada

The Boreal Forest Logging Problem in Canada
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The Boreal Forest Logging Problem in Canada
A 2019 report by the NRDC established that between 1996 and 2015, over 11 million hectares of boreal forest were cleared through industrial logging. Today, an area of seven NHL hockey rinks is cleared daily through industrial logging (Skene, 2020). Logging is the primary source of timber that serves various human needs, especially in providing construction material. The industry is also a significant source of jobs and revenue contributing to 1.1% of the country’s nominal GDP (Canada-Gov, 2021). The pressing need for timber products and developments in the logging industry against the quantified and unquantified benefits that the rest of the community get from the boreal forest presents a dilemma that can be understood through the theory of the tragedy of commons. The current paper explores the logging issue in Canada and argues that it is a practical example of the tragedy of commons.[Environmental Defence, Nature Canada, and Natural Resources Defense Council]
Tragedy of Commons
In simpler terms, the tragedy of commons is an economic and environmental dilemma in which each individual has an incentive to consumer a resource at the expense of other individuals. Apparent own best interest means that no person can be excluded from using the resource. Since the resource is limited, it implies that with time, it gets depleted. When the demand for the resource overwhelms the supply, all those who consume an extra unit of the resource directly harm others. For instance, in the case of the boreal forest, it has far-reaching benefits, not only for Canadians but also for the world. Logging, while it is essential to economic development, implies that a small section of the population is consuming more forest benefits at the expense of others. In the long run, all people will not be able to enjoy the forest’s benefits.
Relationship Between the Tragedy of Commons in Canada’s Logging Problem
Therefore, there are several ways the Canadian logging problem can be described as a tragedy of commons. These include the intersection between economic development and environmental conservation and the non-existence of a technical solution to the problem.
The Non-existence of a Technical Solution
According to Hardin (1968), a technical solution is a solution that involves changes in the techniques of social science with little or no regard to change in human ideas of morality, values, or perceptions. In other words, people are unwilling to change their long-held ideas and values about a resource. Therefore, since technical solutions do not change these values or perceptions, they are more likely to be accepted. Moriarty and Honnery (2015) caution that technical problems may appear effective in the short term but may, in themselves, result in other environmental problems. For instance, in the case of logging, all people with incentives to use the forest benefit from the timber as a resource and the industry as a source of revenue and economic development. However, the exclusive focus on these aspects of the importance of the boreal forest blinds people from other unquantified uses of the forest, including its functions of carbon vaulting, diversity of flora and fauna, impact on precipitation, source of other resources with nutritional and medicinal value, and the forest’s aesthetic significant including its cultural attachment to indigenous communities. The problem with technical solutions is that they fail to account for these aspects of the importance of the forest. Therefore, providing technical solutions to the logging problem may create problems in the long run.
The Population Problem
Another critical aspect of the tragedy of commons is that even if one member of societ...