“We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life around the world. »
This sentence, which sends shivers down your spine, does not refer to a war or climate change. It refers to life: this life on Earth which offers us without asking anything in return the water we drink, the air we breathe and the food we eat. This sentence was pronounced four years ago by Sir Robert Watson, President of IPBES, commonly known as the IPCC for biodiversity.
Scientists are categorical about the catastrophic state in which we find ourselves: the nature on which we depend, the one that keeps us alive, is deteriorating faster than ever.
All aspects of our lives, our economy and our society rely on healthy ecosystems and species. Yet we treat nature as if humans are not part of it, destroying it, overexploiting it and polluting it.
Fortunately, it is still possible to reverse the trend, by attacking the roots of the problem. We need to tackle the underlying causes of nature’s decline, through structural changes in the way we consume, we plan the territory, we produce our food and we extract resources.
Nature Plan 2030
May 22 is the International Day for Biodiversity. This is therefore the perfect opportunity to reflect collectively on what we are doing to nature, even here in Quebec. In the coming months, the Legault government will offer us a rare opportunity to do so, with the development of its Nature Plan 2030, announced with great fanfare by the Prime Minister at the opening of COP15 last December in Montreal.
This Nature Plan, which will have a budget of $650 million, will be Québec’s response to the global framework that countries around the world have adopted to deal with the decline in biodiversity by 2030. Québec has a of great wealth and vast natural environments that are still little degraded. It therefore has everything in hand to make a significant contribution to the global effort to protect nature.
To achieve this, the Legault government will have to develop an integrated action plan for the entire government apparatus that involves all departments and all public and parapublic organizations. The right hand must stop destroying what the left hand is trying to build, as in the case of the caribou that the Ministry of the Environment is trying to protect while the Ministry of Forests authorizes logging in the most sensitive sectors. of its habitat.
We must also raise awareness, mobilize and equip Quebecers so that they understand to what extent they are dependent on nature, to what extent they are part of it and how they can contribute to protecting it at their level.
Québec society as a whole must be consulted in the development of the Nature Plan. The government must also make a special effort to ensure that the Aboriginal nations, who have been protecting life on Earth for millennia, are an integral part of this process and that they are really listened to.
Finally, don’t be afraid to tackle the underlying causes of biodiversity decline and think outside the box. Legislative tools, policies and ecofiscal measures must be used to review our agricultural and forestry practices, curb urban sprawl and the destruction of natural environments, reduce the overconsumption of goods and protect all species.
The task before us is colossal, but necessary. As animals with consciousness and intelligence, it is our responsibility to protect life on Earth, in all its forms.