As COP15 unfolds in Montreal, we see all the deleterious impacts on biodiversity of poorly planned urban development. Through their activities, cities influence the climate, biodiversity and the quality of life of more than half of the humans on the planet through an infinity of small choices… or non-choices.
The decisions of cities in terms of development are complex and multifactorial, of course, but they still cause the disappearance of wetlands, woodlands and forests as well as ecosystems vital to several animal and plant species. The protection of ecosystems must become a preponderant criterion for decision-making at the municipal level, as Mayor Valérie Plante pointed out a few days ago in the context of “L’Appel de Montréal”. Especially since cities are at the forefront of crises.
If we want to offer them the opportunity to have a positive impact on the climate and biodiversity and guarantee greater resilience of their territory, it will take more than money. You have to make different decisions and do it with evidence. We must develop a culture of decision-making based on data, whether digital or scientific.
Cities are more than managers, they can afford to take a step back to better innovate with regard to their needs. As such, collaborations with the academic community allow, through openness to non-standard practices and the development of a critical reflex, to be more daring. We are fortunate in Quebec to benefit from a solid university network spread throughout the territory, supported by public funds and whose research results, by extension, belong to us all.
And if cities are individually small, together they benefit from enormous potential in terms of collective intelligence: that of their citizens thanks to open governance practices, that of existing networks (UMQ, FQM, C40 Métropolis, etc.) which allow them to build common resources and that dictated by natural infrastructure. The watersheds, the coasts and the forests, the territory that welcomes us encourages us by itself to collaborate. At a time when the future of more than a million species on Earth is at stake and when we must contain global warming below the 1.5°C mark, cities are at the forefront of taking concrete action on these issues. crucial.
We are only just beginning to realize the potential of collaboration between cities and scientists in terms of ecological resilience, data sharing or collective intelligence. We are thinking, at the office of the Chief Scientist of Quebec and in the municipal sector, about how we can better listen to science and better listen to the territories. We have begun work within INGSA, the international network for government scientific advice of which Rémi Quirion is the president, and with North American partners in order to strengthen the capacity of cities to fully express their collective and territorial intelligence.