COP15 on biodiversity | Protecting does not mean preventing everything, says Justin Trudeau

The protection of the territory must be compatible with a “responsible” exploitation of resources, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced on Wednesday financial support of $ 800 million for indigenous conservation projects.

“When we protect large swaths of the territory, we can have distinctions within that,” he said during a round table with a handful of journalists at the Montreal Botanical Garden.

Canada is committed to protecting 25% of the territory by 2025, then 30% by 2030, which is equivalent to the area of ​​the 27 countries of the European Union, underlined the Minister of the Environment and Climate change, Steven Guilbeault, at his side.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature provides for different levels of protection, some of which allow “certain levels of development”, he recalled.

It is therefore possible to envisage on a protected territory, in certain specific places, a certain activity of mining, logging or hunting, “if it is done well and responsibly”, estimates the Prime Minister.

“If we don’t, China and other [pays] who will not follow any of the environmental restrictions that we are going to put in place will export lithium to the world,” he illustrated.

Natural resources exploited responsibly are certainly “more expensive”, but they are still sought after, assures Mr. Trudeau, who underlined the rise of Canada in this sector.

It is essential to include the First Nations in the protection of the territory as well as in the responsible development of resources, insists the Prime Minister.

“Shortcuts” to avoid them will inevitably result in failed projects, he warned, pointing out that this type of approach is regularly torn to pieces by the courts.

“First Nations need to be sitting in the driver’s seat a lot more,” said Mr. Trudeau, who spoke of a necessary “paradigm shift”.

This is why his government is working to put in place “a new conservation model” that involves indigenous communities, he said.

Protection of a million square kilometers

Ottawa will also provide up to $800 million to support four conservation projects led by Indigenous peoples across the country, covering nearly one million square kilometres.

“There is going to be a conservation project in the Great Bear Marine Area in the west, another in northern Ontario – the Omushkego conservation project – a project in the Qikiqtani region of Nunavut, and a final project in the Northwest Territories,” announced Justin Trudeau, during a press conference held earlier in the day at the Biosphere on Île Sainte-Hélène.

“Each project is unique [et vise] as much to ensure the well-being of the communities as to protect nature,” continued the Prime Minister.

“This is an extremely important moment for Canada, but also an example for the world,” he said.

“We know that to create jobs and foster a strong economy, it is absolutely necessary to fight against climate change,” he also noted.

Most conservation areas will involve multiple communities. The Great Bear Marine Area, for example, includes 17 First Nations.

The project in the Northwest Territories will be managed in partnership by 30 Aboriginal governments.

It is the indigenous peoples “who will be part of the discussion” to determine “where we should protect more and where there would be room for more development, and under what conditions”, also argued Mr. Trudeau.

“It’s a new approach, but the details will have to be looked at and negotiated as we develop these protected areas,” he explained.

The Prime Minister took the opportunity to call on all the States gathered in Montreal for the 15^e United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP15) to “take action”.

“The whole world must do more to protect nature, but we must do it as well,” he said. We have a lot to do to protect nature and we have a lot to do to move forward on the path of reconciliation. »

Walk the talk, say the Innus of Pessamit

The Innus of Pessamit denounce the lack of adoption of concrete caribou protection measures during COP15, while Quebec and Ottawa reiterated their intention to create new protected areas. “Now is not the time for words, but for action”, declared to The Press Jérôme Bacon-St-Onge, Vice-Chief of the Innu Council of Pessamit, visiting the conference. “We are asking for the immediate registration of the Pipmuakan protected area”, proposed by his community to preserve the caribou herd that lives on its territory. “Things can never go fast enough for me either,” declared Minister Steven Guilbeault, pointing out, however, that the agreement reached between Ottawa and Quebec has led the Legault government to recognize “for the first time that we must protect less than 65% of caribou habitat [et à] negotiate an agreement with Indigenous peoples” to present a caribou recovery strategy by June 2023.