More than 300 km of the proposed Dumoine river biodiversity reserve targeted to expand protected areas in Quebec
More than 300 km of the proposed Dumoine river biodiversity reserve targeted to expand protected areas in Quebec
When the Government of Quebec announced last week to create 11 new protected areas and thus add nearly 2000 square kilometers to its network of protected areas mainly in the south of the province, two places in the Pontiac were targeted by the Quebec government.
Indeed, in addition to the Black and Coulonge rivers, the government plans to expand the proposed Dumoine river biodiversity reserve located partly in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and in the Pontiac in Outaouais.
“The creation of protected areas is still one of the best tools to promote long-term nature conservation as well as the adaptation of species and ecosystems to climate change. Achieving the target of 17% terrestrial and freshwater protected areas by December 2020 was not the end of our efforts in this direction. I am proud of the reservations announced recently, which allow us to position Quebec well with regard to future international targets for protected areas, which will be defined later this year, and thanks to which, more generally, we will be able to limit the loss of biodiversity”, declared the Minister of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, Benoit Charette. (Translated)
“I would like to highlight all the work and involvement of the various stakeholders in order to arrive at these protected area projects. We are able to see that when it comes to the protection of biodiversity, it is possible to find consensus,” said the Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, Minister responsible for Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Nord-du-Québec regions, Pierre Dufour. (Translated)
The choice of the 11 new territories to be set aside is the result of several years of consultation between the various regional actors involved in these projects and with the other ministries concerned. However, the delimitation and the total area of the new territories announced are still approximate and they could be modified.
