An important step has been taken for the recognition of Anticosti Island as a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the recent submission of the application file, a 2,500-page document, which has initiated the great seduction with the International Union of nature conservation.
This organization is responsible for analyzing the Anticosti case over the next 18 months. Specialists will therefore travel to the island this summer to carry out this assessment.
A decision could be taken by UNESCO in 2023.
The municipality of Anticosti Island, the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec must demonstrate their ability to protect, manage and enhance the island’s geology, which is an exceptional laboratory.
Anticosti Island is an exceptional natural environment because it offers a glimpse of the first mass extinction of living things, 445 million years ago. Anyone who has been able to set foot on the island can see the presence of a phenomenal amount of fossils.
The scientific director of the Anticosti bid, André Desrochers, has been traveling the island for 40 years.
He pointed out that his colleagues around the world recognize the quality of the Anticosti site as a witness to the Ordovician geological period.
“Scientists from the International Commission on Stratigraphy, which is an important body in the field of earth sciences, strongly support Anticosti’s candidacy for UNESCO’s World Heritage List. For the scientific community, there is no doubt that Anticosti is a paleontological stratigraphic site that is unique and of global importance,” André Desrochers told TVA Nouvelles.