Anticosti moved closer to its designation as a World Heritage Site on Monday with the filing of a favorable report by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) on the creation by Quebec of a biodiversity reserve protecting part of the island.
Posted at 4:09 p.m.
This step is a prerequisite for the designation of Anticosti in the register of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The BAPE report, which focused specifically on the final boundaries of the proposed reserve and on the terms of governance and management, gives the green light on the subject of the delimitation.
“This is one more step towards recognition at UNESCO,” said Frédéric Venne, coordinator of the biodiversity and forests program at Nature Québec.
However, the report notes “a duplication of roles and responsibilities” contrary to the principle of sound governance and considers that the governance structure “must be simplified and adapted to the capacity of the host environment”.
Frédéric Venne is not worried about these remarks, stressing that this type of structure is new in Quebec.
The BAPE report is welcomed by the Society for Nature and Parks (SNAP) of Quebec, which would however have liked “a recommendation to expand the biodiversity reserve [afin de] to protect the whole island”, indicated to The Press Alain Branchaud, general manager of the organization.
The official designation of Anticosti as a world heritage site could be done around the summer of 2023.