The woodland caribou saga served as a reminder, once again, of the significant gaps in the protection of biodiversity in Quebec. An acknowledgment of failure that illustrates a lack of political will and an outdated vision of the crucial role that natural environments play.
Last year, the Legault government opposed the protection of the habitat of the copper redhorse, a fish on the verge of extinction found only in Quebec. It also authorized the destruction of one of the last habitats of the chorus frog, despite the advice of its scientists. And in the fall, he postponed the essential protection plan to avoid the disappearance of the woodland caribou, which have inhabited the boreal forest for thousands of years. Instead, a new herd of the species, that of Charlevoix, was taken into captivity. She is now being fed lichen stored in a Tempo Shelter.
All these recent decisions by elected CAQ members have one thing in common: they were taken to prevent the protection of species that are more threatened than ever from blocking economic development projects. “Yes, the environment, but it takes a balance, not at the expense of jobs. It takes economic development, ”said Prime Minister François Legault last August.
This situation does not surprise the biologist Alain Branchaud, director general of the Society for Nature and Parks (SNAP) of Quebec. He recalls that at the end of 2020, when announcing the list of “protected areas” making it possible to reach the target of protecting 17% of the territory, the government abandoned 83 projects presented by the Minister of the Environment. of Quebec. They were all located in the vast territory where industrial logging is authorized.
“Quebec is doing very good things. In the case of protected areas, there has been enormous progress. But not enough is being done to protect certain ecosystems, particularly in southern Quebec. It is an acknowledgment of failure, and in some cases, an acknowledgment of willful blindness,” underlines Mr. Branchaud.
A point of view shared by Pierre Drapeau, director of the Center for Forest Studies, which brings together scientists from 11 Quebec universities. “So much the better if there are large protected areas north of the limit of exploitable forests. But we did not answer adequately for the south, where the territories are simply conceded to the harvest. According to him, successive governments have thus let the industry destroy the “old forests”. However, these are essential for the health of the ecosystems of the boreal forest, which covers 551,000 km2 of territory, or 36% of Quebec, and home to dozens of animal species.
“We have a state that is putting in place laws on the conservation of biodiversity and species at risk, but at the same time, we are putting in place practices for the exploitation of our natural resources that thwart conservation efforts. Why are woodland caribou completely stuck? This is because there are no more old-growth forests, which are essential habitats for the species. And several other species that need the same habitat risk being threatened if we continue to maintain a very low proportion of mature forests,” explains Mr. Drapeau.
“outdated” law
The need to act “quickly” to curb the decline of biodiversity implies reviewing the traditional approach of wanting to protect “a species first”, believes Michel Leboeuf, author of the book The last caribou, which is interested in the conservation of natural environments. He cites as an example the St. Lawrence beluga, which is protected under provincial and federal laws, but whose decline continues. According to him, this demonstrates that beyond an animal, we must think about preserving ecosystems which themselves are home to several species that are linked to each other.
Responsible for the file of protected areas at the National Group of Regional Councils of the Environment of Quebec, Luce Balthazar also notes “the weakness” of the protection of critical ecosystems for biodiversity, particularly with regard to the St. Lawrence. “Even if we create a protected area, the seaway passes through the heart of the estuary. »
Mme Balthazar also deplores the lack of rigor of Quebec’s Act respecting threatened or vulnerable species (LEMV), which came into force in 1989 to protect “the diversity of species”. Alain Branchaud does not hesitate to speak of downright “obsolete” legislation. “There is no established committee to designate threatened or vulnerable species or a legal process for listing species. It’s done in a non-transparent way. We don’t know where the files are. And in the case of wildlife species, it’s been nearly 10 years since there has been a new listing or a change in the status of species. »
The list of wildlife species that the Quebec government deems “likely to be designated as threatened or vulnerable” includes several that are classified as “threatened” or “endangered” by the federal government. This is the case with certain fish, bats and mammals, such as the right whale and the blue whale. Quebec also considers the woodland caribou and the chorus frog to be “vulnerable”, while the federal government considers them to be in the category of “threatened” species.
Asked to clarify the evolution of the list of threatened or vulnerable wildlife species, the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks indicated that the first version of it, published in 1993, contained 76 species. It now has 115, including invertebrates. However, the ministry did not specify whether the “status” of certain species could be revised.
30% in 2030
According to Alain Branchaud, the most important thing would be to thoroughly revise the LEMV. Currently, he regrets, there is no obligation to define the essential habitat of a threatened species, and the presence of the latter in a natural environment is not sufficient to block a project. This is how the Quebec Ministry of the Environment was able to authorize the City of Longueuil last year to destroy a natural environment of the chorus frog in order to extend a boulevard, even if the species has already lost more than 90% of its habitats.
“There is currently no possibility for the provincial government to enforce habitat protection measures on private lands,” adds Alain Branchaud. This is nonsense, especially when we are talking about southern Quebec, where there is the most biodiversity and endangered species. These are mostly private lands. »
However, the Minister of the Environment of Quebec, Benoit Charette, promises to continue efforts to protect 30% of natural terrestrial and marine environments by 2030. “We are working on it constantly, especially in southern Quebec”, assures his firm in a written response.
While several experts wonder about the compatibility of the increased development of the territory with the preservation of biodiversity, Michel Leboeuf pleads for an awareness of the impacts of the erosion of living species. “It’s a bit like an airplane that loses parts in flight, over the Atlantic Ocean. If you lose a rivet on a wing, you can still go. But if you lose two, then three rivets, then more, you risk reaching a threshold beyond which the wing can no longer support the plane, which will then fall into the ocean. It’s the same principle with biodiversity. We don’t know when we’re going to lose enough cash for the system to stop working. So why do we wait for the plane to crash before acting? »