[Sust-mar] Beetles, forests, and climate change: Exchanging old mistakes for new?

[Christopher Majka]

Hi folks,

Many sectors of Canadian society are still in shock, reeling from the  
recent budget cutbacks announced by the federal government. One agency  
hard hit is the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Thus far  
concern has focused around food safety but the CBC has learned of  
another cut to the Brown Spruce Longhorn Beetle program.

In this case the CFIA never undertook the research, to establish that  
this species was actually a pest. Consequently, there’s no evidence  
that biocontrol, containment, eradication, or quarantine measures were  
ever warranted. However, climate change, may be a much greater threat  
to spruce forests and the federal government policy is undermining our  
capacity to investigate this, let alone act upon it.

In the event that this subject is of interest, please feel free to  
peruse my recent article:

	Beetles, forests, and climate change: Exchanging old mistakes for new?
	http://www.behindthenumbers.ca/2012/04/25/bettles-forests-and-climate-change-exchanging-old-mistakes-for-new/

Published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

All the best,

Christopher Majka