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Environmentalists celebrate increased safeguarding of extra 100,000 square kilometres of land
MONTREAL – Calling it perhaps the largest environmental conservation project on the planet, Quebec premier Jean Charest unveiled how the government plans to safeguard 50 per cent of the province’s northern territory – a region the size of France – from industrial development Sunday.
Chief among the measures was the announcement that 20 per cent of the region will be declared protected areas by 2020, nearly twice the amount of land Quebec first pledged would be granted full protection.
Another 30 per cent of the land will be closed to mining and hydroelectric projects, although other development projects deemed to have less impact on the ecology, like ecotourism, for instance, will be permitted. The nature of those development projects have yet to be defined.
The announcement was met with cautious approval by conservation groups, some of who have characterized the government’s Plan Nord vision to invest $80 billion in energy development, forestry, mining and tourism over 25 years as a marketing plan to sell off natural resources to foreign countries.
“We’re in a celebratory mood,” said Patrick Nadeau, executive director of the Quebec chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. “Moving from 12 to 20 per cent protected areas in northern Quebec might not sound like a huge increase, but it’s more than 100,000 square kilometres of extra coverage that’s protected. For us, that’s huge.”
The government’s conservation plan calls for ensuring that half of Quebec’s Plan Nord territory will be granted environmental protection by 2035 that will safeguard the biodiversity of the area, protect the national heritage, and would not be open to mining or hydroelectric projects.
“This is one of the last virgin territories on the planet,” Charest said, accompanied by Pierre Arcand, Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks. “It requires very careful and rigorous scientific processes to meet the objectives of protecting ecosystems and biodiversity. … On the environmental plan, in terms of the protection of territory, it is the biggest project that exists right now.”
To obtain the objective of protecting 50 per cent of the territory, the government intends to:
— create protected areas on 20 per cent of the territory. The 20 per cent will include 12 per cent of the boreal forest.
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