Protected Areas - Introduction
This St. Lawrence Action Plan (SLAP) initiative is jointly managed by Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and the Quebec department of Développement durable, de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques (MDDELCC). Its objectives are to provide support and orientation for the development of an Integrated Conservation Plan for the SLAP territory and to identify:
- The location of private land conservation actions;
- their nature;
- gaps analysis in order to achieve efficient biodiversity protection.
Quebec protected areas are well known and are catalogued in a registry managed by MDDELCC which includes information about 23 different protection states, mainly on public land. However, while a fair number of sites are on private land, their owners do not have to make their conservation initiatives known. Therefore, the current registry remains incomplete and the private contributions are underestimated.
To help solve this issue, the Protected Natural Habitat Network has initiated the creation in 2007 of a Protected Natural Habitat Registry in Quebec. Its objectives are to implement and maintain a comprehensive inventory of natural habitats in Quebec protected by stakeholders other than governments (Canada, Quebec or local) and to make information available on the Internet. The task is quite substantial and, with limited resources, the registry’s information is still incomplete and inaccurate.
Concluding remarks:
- over the past 15 years, the number of private owners involved in the creation and maintenance of protected areas and other conservation measures in Quebec has increased;
- the registry only includes partial information about the number, the locations, the areas and details about private protected sites.
This SLAP initiative is therefore needed.
