Quebec announced on Tuesday financial assistance of $400,000 to a research firm specializing in the assessment of ecosystems.
A project which should notably help the Ministry of the Environment to reach the target of 30% protected areas by 2030. It is the firm Habitat which will pilot the project which “will use high-resolution ecological and economic data to assess the local consequences of achieving this objective [de 30 %] “.
Habitat specializes in the economic valuation of ecosystem services provided by natural environments. The research firm was founded in 2017 by professors Jérôme Dupras (University of Quebec in Outaouais), Andrew Gonzalez (McGill) and Christian Messier (University of Quebec in Montreal).
“We must rely on finer knowledge based on science, particularly on the environmental and economic consequences of our actions,” said the Minister of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, Benoit Charette.
He also added that he wanted “there is a significant percentage of the 13% that remains to be protected, that it will be in the south”.