Most of Canada’s largest forestry companies announced a groundbreaking deal with environmental groups on Tuesday that will restrict logging in the country’s vast northern forests.

The agreement covers 170 million acres — an area nearly twice the size of Germany — and ends years of battles over logging in Canada’s massive boreal forest, which environmentalists say plays an major role in fighting global warming by absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide.

The forestry companies will stop all logging immediately on 75 million acres to protect woodland caribou herds under pressure from development. The two sides will then spend three years working out which restrictions to impose on logging in the remaining 95 million acres.

In return, as the agreement comes into force, the green groups will end international “Do not buy” campaigns against Canadian lumber.

The U.S.-based Pew Environment Group, which brokered the deal, said it was the largest commercial forest conservation agreement ever concluded…

“This will translate into market advantage for participating companies. We think this is a radically pragmatic agreement that will have significant ripple effects worldwide for forest products’ environmental standards.”

Kudos to both sides and especially Pew for assuming the activist role brokering the negotiations.