Katie Franzios reports on the province protecting a portion of its boreal forest.

The Ontario Government has announced it with protect a vast area of the northern boreal forest from development. Around 225,000 square kilometres will be set aside to preserve a space that makes up just under half the land mass of the province.

Commercial activities such as mining and forestry will be banned, having to move a little more south.

CFRB's Katie Franzios has this report.

The move will also pay a huge part on the effects of climate change. The region is known as a carbon sink - it sucks in about 12.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere each year. There's over 186 billion tonnes already stored there, which is the equivalent to 27 years worth of the world's CO₂ emissions.

Last year, 15-hundred scientists from around the world called on all levels of the Canadian government to protect the 5.6 million square kilometres of boreal forest in Canada.