Ontario Far North Peatland Carbon Storage and Sequestration: Interfacing Science and Policy.

Passage of Bill 191 the Far North Planning Act in 2010 mandates the Ontario government (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; OMNR) to develop policy statements incorporating terrestrial carbon storage and sequestration into Far North land use planning. This region contains the Hudson Bay Lowlands, the second largest peatland complex in the world. Key peatland management policy-drivers include mineral mining, peat extraction for energy, hydroelectric power generation, and climate change. The Ontario government is also considering a carbon cap and trade policy and this, along with post-2012 Kyoto reporting may require Ontario to report on peatland management and carbon sinks. However, these are emerging issues with few research data available and the reporting framework developments are in their infancies. This presentation focuses on OMNR’s approach of interfacing science and policy to incorporate peatland carbon storage and sequestration into land use planning in the Hudson Bay Lowlands.