Ottawa will invest $1.5 million over the next five years to protect species at risk in Quebec, including the bittern in Montérégie, which has received a lot of attention as part of Northvolt’s gigafactory project. .
Twelve conservation projects will share this sum, which is part of a larger envelope of 7.5 million funding a total of 56 projects across Canada.
The Haut-Richelieu Ecological Interpretation Center will thus receive $100,000 for a five-year project aimed at protecting six species classified as endangered that live in the forest, including, in addition to the least bittern, the Chimney Swift and the Aster. spreading branches, an endangered species, and the Carex false-lupulina, an endangered species.
Nature Québec will also receive $26,000 to develop a protected area concept aimed at protecting the Gaspésie mountain caribou herd through the conservation of old-growth forests on the Gaspé Peninsula.
The federal government says these amounts come from investments of more than five billion dollars aimed at halting the loss of biodiversity and protecting 30% of Canadian lands and waters by 2030, as agreed at the 15e United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity (COP15), held in Montreal in 2022.