Map 2.4
Deforestation by ecozone and by sector, 1990 to 2015

The title of this map is "Deforestation by ecozone and by sector, 1990 to 2015." This map displays information on the amount and cause of deforestation by ecozone.

On this map, a darker colour indicates a higher level of deforestation. Category 1a (very dark green) is 2,308 km² to less than 5,849 km²; category 2a (dark green) is 913 km² to less than 2,308 km²; category 3a (green) is 457 km² to less than 913 km²; category 4a (light green) is 1 km² to less than 457 km²; and category 5a (white) is 0 km². The cause of deforestation is indicated with a pie chart that shows the percent of deforestation by sector. Category 6s (yellow) represents agriculture; category 7s (green) represents forestry; category 8s (orange) represents mining, oil and gas; category 9s (purple) represents built-up; category 10s represents hydro-electric production. Water is pale blue.

A solid black line defines ecozone boundaries. Ecozones are identified with numbers that correspond to named legend entries. No data is available for the Arctic ecozones—these areas are displayed in grey.

The Boreal Plains and Boreal Shield ecozones experienced the most deforestation from 1990 to 2015, followed by the Atlantic Maritime, Montane Cordillera, Mixedwood Plains and Prairies. The sectors responsible for most deforestation include agriculture and mining, oil and gas, followed by built-up, hydro-electric production and forestry, though the proportion varies by ecozone.

Notes: Deforestation from forestry results from the creation of permanent forest roads. Built-up includes industrial, commercial, institutional and residential development as well as recreational area and transportation. Hydro-electric production includes infrastructure and reservoirs. Deforestation from peat mines has been excluded. Estimates of deforestation are produced by Canada's National Deforestation Monitoring System, which was designed to meet the information needs for reporting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Source: Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, National Deforestation Monitoring System, special tabulation May 12, 2017; Statistics Canada, Environment, Energy and Transportation Statistics Division, 2018.