Important Facts on Canada's Natural Resources

Forests

• National Economic Importance
• International Importance
• Forest Land

• Canada has 10 percent of the world’s forests.
• Canada has 397.3 million hectares (ha) of forest, other wooded land and other land with tree cover, which represent 53.8 percent of its total surface area of 738.5 million ha.¹
• Canada’s forest, other wooded land and other land with tree cover are made up of 347.7 million ha (87.5 percent) of forest, 41.8 million ha (10.5 percent) of other wooded land and 7.8 million ha (2 percent) of other land with tree cover.
• In Canada, the predominant tree species on forest land are spruce (53.2 percent), poplar (11.6 percent) and pine (9.3 percent).
• In 2008, Canada harvested 136.9 million cubic metres (m³) of roundwood.
• Annually, less that 1 percent of Canada’s forests are harvested; 0.7 million ha were harvested in 2008.
• A total of 13.7 million ha were affected by insect defoliation in 2008; 0.8 million ha were lost due to forest fires in 2009.
• In 2008, an estimated 447 195 ha were planted with 688 million seedlings, and 34 602 ha were seeded.
• Revenues from the sale of timber from provincial and territorial crown lands were estimated to be $0.7 billion in 2008.

¹ The Arctic ecozones (Arctic Cordillera, Northern Arctic, Southern Arctic) and a portion of the Hudson Plains ecozone in Nunavut are not inventoried. The total land and water areas amount to 242 536 492 ha and 18 786 536 ha respectively. For more information, see Canada's National Forest Inventory 2006 (http://nfi.nfis.org).

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National Economic Importance

• The forest sector’s contribution to the Canadian economy (GDP) in 2002 constant dollars was $20.9 billion, or 1.8 percent, in 2009.
• In 2009, the sector provided direct employment for 195 300 people, representing 1.3 percent of total employment in Canada: wood industries, for 89 400 people; pulp and paper product manufacturing industry, for 66 600 people; forestry and logging industry, for 28 300 people; and support activities for forestry industry, for 11 000 people. Employment is spread across Canada but is primarily in Quebec (68 000 people), British Columbia (46 800 people) and Ontario (40 700 people).
• Wages and salaries for direct employment were $10.3 billion in 2008.
• In 2009, shipments of pulp, paper and paperboard reached a level of 21.1 million tonnes (t), a decrease of 16.1 percent from the previous year.
• Production of softwood lumber was 44.4 million m³ in 2009.
• New capital investments totalled $1.6 billion in 2009: pulp and paper product manufacturing industry, $0.9 billion (56.2 percent); wood product manufacturing industry, $0.5 billion (31.3 percent); and forestry and logging industry, $0.2 billion (12.5 percent).
• Revenue from goods manufactured was $60.8 billion in 2008.

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International Importance

• In 2009, Canada was the world’s third-largest forest-product exporter (8.3 percent).
• Forest products were a major contributor to Canada’s surplus balance of trade in 2009 ($14.4 billion).
• The total value of Canadian forest-product domestic exports decreased by 21.7 percent in 2009 to $23.6 billion. British Columbia accounted for $7.5 billion (31.8 percent); Quebec, $7.4 billion (31.4 percent); Ontario, $4.0 billion (17.0 percent); and other provinces and territories, $4.7 billion (19.8 percent).

E.U. - European Union (27 countries)
U.S. - United States

* United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization data for 2007.

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Forest Land

• Canada has the largest area of certified forest in the world – more than 142 million ha. Approximately 40 percent of the world’s certified forest area is in Canada.
• Approximately 8 percent of Canada’s forest area is protected by legislation. By law, all forests harvested (less than 1 percent annually) on Canada’s public land must be successfully regenerated.

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