Biodiversity | Montreal announces a plan to better protect pollinators

In the wake of COP15 to be held in Montreal next December, the city announced on Wednesday the adoption of a plan for biodiversity, which aims in particular to protect pollinators. An initiative hailed by the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

Eric-Pierre Champagne
The Press

The Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, unveiled a plan for biodiversity on Wednesday intended to “improve the living conditions of pollinators and promote actions to favor them”. The plan, which will be spread over five years, includes several measures aimed at pollinators, the decline of which has worried scientists for years.

In particular, the City wants to increase the land area of ​​protected natural environments on its territory from 8 to 10% by 2030. An objective that will require the addition of 1,000 hectares of protected territory, the equivalent of five times Mount Royal. Montreal will however be far from the objective of 30% of protected territory by 2030, to which the Metropolitan Community of Montreal adheres.

The Plante administration also wants to create at least five ecological corridor projects favorable to pollinators. The Mayor also mentioned the City’s desire to promote the reduction of the frequency of lawn mowing on its territory, in order to favor pollinators. The frequency of mowing will also decrease in the city center from next spring, said Mr.^me Plant.

The City also wants to review its regulations in order to allow the development of vegetable gardens on the front and not only in the backyards.

The City of Montreal’s announcement comes a few weeks before COP15 on biodiversity, which will be held at the Palais des Congrès from December 7 to 19.

“This year’s meeting has never been so important because we are facing a critical loss of biodiversity all over the world”, recalled Valérie Plante, who says she expects this international meeting to generate “actions concrete”.

The “major” role of cities

“Since the majority of the population lives in urban areas all over the planet, cities have a major role to play in protecting biodiversity and maintaining the quality of life,” added the Mayor. She recalls that pollinators are extremely important, since a third of the world’s food depends on pollination.

The Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, hailed “a promising and timely initiative” from the City of Montreal.

“We are pleased that the Plante administration is finally honoring the commitment it made four years ago by adopting the motion of Ensemble Montréal for the City of Montreal to develop a pollinator protection strategy,” said Stéphanie Valenzuela. , Official Opposition Critic for the Environment. However, it is a pity to have waited so long and that it took the next COP15 to motivate the administration to present it. Now that this is done, our training will ensure that it does not take another four years for the commitments unveiled today to be implemented. »