More than 800 elected officials, professionals, organizations and citizens gathered at the Metropolitan Agora to reflect on the future of Greater Montréal. The Agora marked an important milestone in the process of revising the Metropolitan Land Use and Development Plan (PMAD), for which public consultations are scheduled for early 2024.
This document, adopted in 2011, constitutes the backbone of land use planning and sustainable development of the territory of the Metropolitan Community of Montreal (CMM), where nearly half of the population of Quebec lives. As organizations committed to the conservation of natural environments, we were there to assess the path to follow to achieve the commitment made at COP15 by the CMM to protect nature and counter the loss of biodiversity by protecting 30% of natural environments in 2030.
We quickly realized the magnitude of the task ahead of us, as 10.1% of the territory of the CMM is currently located in protected areas and, of this area, 80.3% is found in a natural aquatic environment. .
Tomorrow, the CMM can hope to achieve 22.1% of terrestrial and aquatic territory conserved, if it makes permanent the effect of the two interim control regulations (RCI) recently adopted relating to natural environments and sectors with potential for conversion. in natural environments or green spaces.
We are therefore still far from 30% of protected areas in perpetuity!
It’s time to change the paradigm
The achievement of our collective ambitions in terms of the environment and the protection of biodiversity relies heavily on the political decisions taken at all levels of government and on their consistency. At the same time, our decision-makers must also tackle the underlying causes of biodiversity decline by effecting a profound transition in our economic system and our system of values. The signing of the Montreal Appeal by the three levels of government at COP15 is an encouraging signal in this direction.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Pointe-aux-Prairies nature park
The Montreal Metropolitan Community
The revision of the PMAD, far from being an administrative formality, constitutes a structuring collective exercise which must bring hope and resources. This is an opportunity for the metropolitan region to rally the vital forces of the territory and to equip itself with the necessary levers to face the climate challenges and the infernal spiral of the collapse of biodiversity. The next version of the PMAD should also make it possible to consolidate ecological corridors and guarantee equitable access to green spaces and natural terrestrial and aquatic environments for the entire population.
The Government of Quebec
The Government of Quebec is currently working on several essential projects for the protection of natural environments: the revision of the Planning and Town Planning Actthe revision of government guidelines in terms of land use planning, the revision of the law on expropriation, as well as the implementation of the 2030 Nature Plan and the Blue Fund.
We salute these major projects which have the power to mark the history and sustainable development of the territory. At a crossroads, the government must seize these opportunities to make major changes and finally recognize the essential contribution of natural environments to living things by granting them recognition as a collective heritage in the same way as water and agricultural land. The legislative changes made to the planning powers and tools of municipalities must allow them to fully exercise their territorial planning jurisdiction to contribute to the achievement of global biodiversity protection targets.
There is still a lot of work to do on this front, but we seem to be on the right track!
The Government of Canada
Achieving our targets inevitably requires increased involvement by the Government of Canada. The modernization of laws and policies, such as the Environmental Protection Act, must continue in particular to increase the protection of species at risk. Financial support for nature between Ottawa and Quebec is a must. It must support increased collaboration between governments as well as with conservation groups and citizens who are already at work in the territory to accelerate conservation in southern Quebec by carrying out acquisitions, protection and restoration.
And we, civil society and citizens!
We are now launching a call for a massive mobilization in view of the consultations on the PMAD. Let us remember that in 2011, the strong participation of civil society contributed to including in the first PMAD the objective of 17% protection of natural environments and the concept of green and blue infrastructure, as well as the granting of funding for its realization.
The momentum of the COP15 should not run out of steam, but on the contrary be amplified. We feel that the desire to increase the protection of natural environments is widely shared by elected officials in the metropolitan region. Nevertheless, there remains an important step from will to action. This is why, collectively, we must redouble our ardor and ambition and get down to work now!
* Co-signatories: Emmanuel Rondia, Director General, Regional Council for the Environment of Montreal; Pascal Bigras, General Manager, Nature-Action Quebec; Charles Bonhomme, Public Affairs and Communications Manager, David Suzuki Foundation; Élodie Morandini, Director General, Regional Council for the Environment of Laval; Alice-Anne Simard, Executive Director, Nature Quebec; Tommy Montpetit, Curatorial Director, Heaven and Earth; Andréanne Paris, Director General, Regional Council for the Environment of Montérégie