More than 10 years ago, I had the incredible chance to meet a group of about ten caribou near Mount Logan, during a cross-country skiing trip in Gaspésie National Park. It was one of the most memorable moments I have experienced in the forest. A moment when one becomes intensely aware of wealth, beauty, life and nature.
Since this moving encounter, I have read in the newspapers about the decline of the caribou in the Gaspé and in other regions of Quebec and I am worried about it. Today, the Independent Commission on Woodland and Mountain Caribou is asking citizens to express themselves on the subject, in particular on the balance to be found between caribou protection measures and the socio-economic impacts of these measures.
I would like to point out to the commissioners that beyond the intrinsic value of this species for the natural heritage of Quebec, the economic value of the forest is not limited to the forest industry. The economic value of forest protection in relation to outdoor activities, hunting and fishing, tourism and other non-logging activities is significant. We must therefore not only calculate the economic costs of protecting the caribou and the forests they inhabit, but also the economic benefits associated with it.
Alone, “the practice of the outdoors generates more than 30,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs across Quebec, totaling $912,565 million in wages. In 2016, wealth creation from outdoor physical activities amounted to $2.2 billion” (Transat ESG UQAM Tourism Chair, 2017). A more complete calculation would take into account several other current and potential uses of our forests, which benefit from implementing caribou protection measures. The protection of caribou must be our objective in Quebec in a perspective of sustainable and diversified economic development, in which the forest industry is only one player among many others.
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