Nearly 70 civil society organizations announced Thursday the formation of a “collective” for the COP15 on biodiversity to be held in Montreal in December. Objective ? Take advantage of this international conference to take full measure of the biodiversity crisis that is affecting Quebec and ask for concrete commitments from the various levels of government.
Updated yesterday at 5:52 p.m.
Made up of 67 organizations, including trade unions, environmental organizations, research centers and private companies, the COP15 Collective also sets itself the challenge of adopting “a new global framework active until 2030 to halt the decline of living organisms and make the protection of nature a fundamental value of our societies”.
According to Alain Branchaud, Director General of the Society for Nature and Parks for Quebec (SNAP Quebec), COP15 has the potential to “become the most important meeting of the decade for biodiversity”. “We invite Montreal, Quebec and Canada to set an example and be bold,” said Mr. Branchaud.
In particular, the collective expects concrete commitments from the Government of Quebec in terms of biodiversity. The transfer of the Wildlife sector to the Ministry of the Environment, within the framework of the dismantling of the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks (MFFP), is also viewed favorably by environmental organizations. They hope that Minister Charrette will take advantage of COP15 to demonstrate that the biodiversity crisis is taken seriously by the government of François Legault.
For its part, the Quebec Workers’ Federation (FTQ) decided to join the collective, because “biodiversity is too important an issue to leave it in the hands of the government alone”, reminded Hans Marotte, adviser policy at the FTQ.
The collective will organize several events throughout the duration of COP15, from December 7 to 19, including a large march for biodiversity in the streets of Montreal on December 10. One of the objectives is also to raise public awareness of the issues surrounding the biodiversity crisis and its importance in the fight against climate change.
The new organization is steered by a committee made up of eight organizations: the FTQ, Fondaction, Nature Québec, the National Grouping of Regional Environmental Councils of Québec, Action-Climate Network, the Network of Protected Natural Environments, the Society for the nature and parks and the public relations firm, COPTICOM, which provides coordination.