The Government of Quebec wants to add nearly 2,000 additional square kilometers to its network of protected areas, by allocating 11 new territories, mainly in the south of the province. Targeted territories were identified during consultation with regional and Aboriginal stakeholders.
The Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change, Benoit Charette, who made the announcement on Friday, indicated in a statement that the creation of protected areas is still one of the best tools to promote long-term conservation of nature, as well as the adaptation of species and ecosystems to climate change.
For the Minister of the Environment, achieving the target of 17% of terrestrial and freshwater protected areas by December 2020 does not end our efforts in this directionHe added.
He said to himself proud of reservations […] which allows us to properly position Québec with regard to future international targets for protected areas, to be determined later this year, and thanks to which, in general, we will be able to limit biodiversity loss.
We see that when it comes to biodiversity protection, it is possible to find consensusfor his part was adopted Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks Pierre Dufour.
Biological diversity
Quebec will also adopt new targets for biodiversity protection, as it says it relates to international goals to be set during the United Nations World Convention on Biological Diversity for the decades 2020-2030.
In addition, Quebec’s network of protected areas will have a total of approximately 260,893 square kilometers of terrestrial and freshwater environment, including 11 territories announced Friday. This corresponds to 17.25% of Quebec’s territory.
For comparison, the percentage was 17.08% in December 2020, when the Quebec Government announced its commitment to protect all of Anticosti Island.
Certain territories are officially excluded by Quebec, including the Rivière-Péribonka in Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean. However, in the latter case, the methods of management and development of the territory have to be determined by a committee of regional players established by Minister Charette.
Also, the delimitation and location of the protected and set aside territories announced on Friday is not final. Limits are approximate and subject to change.
The power to set aside was introduced in 2021 in the Natural Heritage Conservation Act (LCPN). This allows the government to be sure the legal protection of territories by removing them from new research, exploitation and transportation activities for natural resources, until they are granted protection statusemphasizes the press release from Minister Charette.
Other protected area projects are being assessed by the Government of Quebec to meet the 2021-2030 international goals. To this end, new tools for protecting the territory, resulting from changes made in LCPNcan be used by Quebec.
Radio Canada
Source: Radio-Canada
