‘Yehewin Aski’: Respiratory Lands protect Canada from climate collapse

There is a word the Cree use to describe the vast peatlands that stretch across the lowlands of Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. Yehewin, which means “breathing” in Cree, is an apt description of wetlands, which are vital carbon sinks and key natural assets in the fight against global warming, says Vern Cheechoo, director of lands and resources at the Council of Mushkegowuk representing seven First Nations in Northern Ontario.

The word was used by the elderly and dates back to the past, says Cheechoo. Yehewin is your breath. Wetlands do the same. It is like the lungs of Mother Earth: it cleans the air, it gives us freshness, it keeps the Earth fresh ”.

A research team led by University of Alberta researcher Lorna Harris recently published a paper scientifically corroborating this long-standing indigenous knowledge of the importance of peatlands. His article advocates for the preservation of peatlands as a nature-based solution to help achieve Canada’s goal of net zero by 2050. But these essential carbon sinks are under threat: particularly in Ontario, where further development is leaving Canada’s peatlands vulnerable to destruction, and without further government protection, a vital tool to tackle climate change could become a drag.

A bog is a bog, bog, or wetland made up of ancient soil, some of it more than 8,000 years old, and made up of sphagnum moss and decaying vegetation. Peat contains five times more carbon per square hectare than the Amazon rainforest. These ecosystems also provide critical habitats for wildlife and a potential refuge for species in the face of climate change and serve as a natural barrier to the worsening of wildfires.

Throughout Canada, peatlands sit primarily on traditional territories of indigenous nations. The ecosystems serve as hunting grounds, vital to food security, and are culturally important venues for family traplines and ceremonies like Sun Dance for the Cree.

Canada has between a quarter and a third of the world’s peatlands, representing the largest carbon pool of peatlands at 550 billion tonnes. To put that in perspective, global emissions of burning fossil fuels were 35 billion tons in 2020.

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The second largest concentration of the world’s peatlands are found in the lowlands of Hudson Bay.

Harris says these ecosystems are threatened by climate change, which can lead to environmental catastrophes, such as the wildfires that swept through Fort McMurray, Alta., In 2016, where a tree planting experiment and strong heat waves transformed the peat bogs into a powder keg. Severe thawing of permafrost can also drown peatlands, causing them to collapse, as has occurred in the Northwest Territories.

“When we look at the historical fires and the frequency of them in the lowlands of the Hudson Bay, because the landscape is very wet, the fires are very small and not very frequent,” says Harris.

Russia, China and the United Kingdom are awakening to the essential natural functions of these ecosystems and spending millions to restore their peatlands, Harris says. However, Canada does not have a strategy to conserve these natural assets.

Large areas of undisturbed peatlands are currently vulnerable to expanding industrial projects, such as planned mining development in northern Ontario. Ring of Fire, which will release an estimated 130 million tons to 250 million tons of carbon once fully developed, according to Harris research. Even at the low end, development would create emissions equivalent to more than one-seventh of Canada’s total emissions. total emissions each year. That is in addition to the large potential disturbances caused by a proposed all-season highway connecting the region to the rest of Ontario.

The Ring of Fire is starting a battle between First Nations, who want to have a greater say in planning the region’s development, and provincial and federal governments who want to become world powers in minerals critical to a green economy.

Indigenous communities have already had disputes with the Ontario government and mining companies in the area.

In 2010, First Nations runways blocked built by mining companies in the region. In contrast, both the governments of former Prime Minister Kathleen Wynne and current Prime Minister Doug Ford have approached First Nations with a divide and rule strategy, choosing certain First Nations to work with over others. Ford has also gone so far as to recently repeal sections of the Far North Law, ensuring the construction of the road for all seasons without the need for environmental assessments and First Nations consultations. Before the amendments, any development without a prior land use plan would have required careful and collaborative planning.

The most prized deposits in the Ring of Fire include chromite, an essential mineral in stainless steel, and nickel, which is used in a variety of batteries; Nickel sulfate, for example, is a key component of electric vehicle batteries. Previous liberal governments have estimated the monetary value of Ring of Fire minerals at $ 60 billion, but that number was discredited by 2019. Globe and mail research he called it “aspirational nonsense.”

There are no firm estimates of the value of the minerals contained in the Ring of Fire, but Toronto-based Noront Resources Ltd., the company that owns most of the mining concessions in the region, recently sold to an Australian equity firm. private for $ 617 million after auction war, indicating that further development is likely and considered to be worth the possibly profitable risks.

Cheechoo says the Mushkegowuk Council is not against development per se, but must protect against adverse effects on the world’s second-largest peatland complex. He says the federal government’s environmental assessment of the Ring of Fire does not include downstream runoff risks that could damage peatlands, James Bay and the Arctic Ocean.

“We need to have a frank discussion about the impacts that can occur in this region,” Cheechoo said.

Industry leaders take the line that any disturbance to peatlands can be restored at a rate of $ 3,500 to $ 4,000 per hectare. But recovering the same level of carbon storage would take 1,500 years, or 1,469 years later. Canada Aims To Hit Its Net Zero Emissions Target, to return to unaltered levels, according to Harris.

All the carbon released from peatlands adds to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions, Harris says. “In terms of compensation, if you destroy peatlands in one place, the idea is that you can create peatlands elsewhere. That doesn’t work in terms of carbon storage. “

Rather than costly peatland regeneration projects that won’t work, Harris’s team advocates for Indigenous protected conservation areas, accurate monitoring of peatland carbon, especially during development projects, a conservation economy that includes payments to preserve old peatlands, and policy initiatives based on avoiding rather than mitigating disturbances.

Cheechoo jokes that First Nations should meter their territories to bill the world for the amount of carbon captured in peatlands.

“Society does not value or see the value of what the ecosystem is doing right now,” says Harris. “It is a shame that we cannot value carbon in the correct way; We only see the value of carbon when it is mined. “

– With files from Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press