Fourteen Canadian municipalities have just received “Bird Friendly Cities” certification. Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue is the only city in Quebec to have joined this program, which aims to protect the winged fauna whose population has experienced a sharp decline in the last 50 years due to urbanization and human activities. Montreal, which is currently hosting COP15, has not requested this certification, but maintains that it is already taking steps to protect biodiversity.
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, a municipality in the west of the island of Montreal, has taken great measures to try to reduce the ravages caused by domestic cats, formidable predators for birds. For the past three years, a municipal by-law has required all cat owners to keep their pets indoors. “I admit that it is very difficult to enforce,” says Mayor Paola Hawa. “We see less and less of it, but there is still the mentality that a cat must go outside. We are next to the Anse-à-l’Orme park. So it’s even more important to enforce the rules. »
This is one of the measures put in place by Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue to allow it to become a friend of birds, a certification granted by the organization Nature Canada. Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, which has 5,000 inhabitants, has also adopted a regulation requiring the installation of anti-reflective windows on new constructions to prevent birds from striking each other. The City has planted fruit trees on its territory and replaced its street lighting to reduce light pollution.
“Everything we have put in place is really inexpensive. That means any city can do it. Small changes to regulations will, over time, have an impact,” said Mayor Hawa.
Population decline
Thursday, during a press conference at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal where the UN conference on biodiversity (COP15) is being held, Nature Canada announced the certification of 14 new bird-friendly cities, including, in addition to Sainte- Anne-de-Bellevue, include Edmonton, Halifax, Regina and Windsor. These cities are in addition to Vancouver, Toronto, London and Calgary which had already obtained their certification in the spring of 2021.
In urban areas, the dangers that threaten birds are numerous, but cities can take action to promote the winged population by preserving natural environments, creating green corridors, banning pesticides and exercising better control of stray cats. , explained Graham Saul, Executive Director of Nature Canada.
“Today, there are three billion fewer birds than 50 years ago in North America. And most of these losses are attributable to human activities,” said Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault. “Birds are excellent indicators of the health of the planet,” he added, recalling the important role played by canaries in coal mines to raise the alarm about the presence of toxic gases.
Montreal, which has already been a “monarch-friendly” city since 2017, has not joined the program set up by Nature Canada for birds. “Montreal is the friend of biodiversity as a whole,” said Marikym Gaudreault, press officer in the office of Mayor Valérie Plante. “Our administration is fully committed to the protection of biodiversity in the broad sense. We rely on the protection of all species that are part of the city’s ecological ecosystem. »
Thus, she recalls, Montreal has taken several steps to protect natural spaces and increase the surface area of green spaces. More recently, the City unveiled its strategy to protect pollinators. It is also committed to increasing the area of protected natural environments on its territory from 8 to 10%.