The government of Quebec, in Canada, has announced a C$922 million ($676 mln) action plan to advance nature protection and restoration across the province.
The plan, which covers the period between 2024-28, sets out the measures to implement the nature conservation strategy developed by the government in line with the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
“With the 2030 nature plan and its historic budget, we’re aiming to step up our efforts and act even more effectively to curb the drivers of biodiversity loss,” said Benoit Charette, the Minister of the Environment, the Fight Against Climate Change, Wildlife, and Parks.
Under the action plan, the government identified budget needs for each of the three goals outlined in the overarching nature strategy – protecting and restoring biodiversity, encouraging sustainable practices across major economic sectors, and engaging different stakeholders in nature conservation.
Notably, C$466 mln will go towards the first goal, with investments supporting the expansion of the network of protected areas (PAs) in the south of Quebec as well as the development of programmes aimed at safeguarding threatened species.
Another C$326 mln will fund efforts to mainstream biodiversity conservations across agriculture, fishery, and forestry – for example, through assisting landholders in adopting sustainable practices.
Additionally, C$95 mln will support the involvement of all stakeholders in biodiversity conservation, with a specific focus on companies and financial institutions.
Planned actions include strengthening corporate disclosure of nature-related risks and dependencies, setting up a working group focused on minimising impacts from environmentally harmful subsidies, and developing innovative financing mechanisms.
INVOLVING THE PRIVATE SECTOR
“Budgetary competition for public funds continues to grow, driven in part by the intensification of global challenges such as climate change. Against this backdrop, it is crucial to involve the private sector – and investors in particular – in biodiversity conservation efforts to achieve our 2030 targets,” said the strategy.
“It is therefore worth exploring a combination of complementary financial solutions.”
Among these are green financial products, social impact investments, and the emerging biodiversity credit market, said the document.
Earlier this year, Quebec-based financial hub Finance Montreal announced it would set up a research centre tasked with developing financing mechanisms to scale investments towards nature protection, including biodiversity credits and biodiversity bonds.
“This plan calls upon Quebecers to take action to protect our natural environment,” said Qeubec’s premier Francois Legault.
“Members of the public, First Nations and Inuit civil society organisations, economic players, the scientific, agricultural, and forestry sectors, as well as Quebec’s numerous conservation groups, are all being asked to join forces and ramp up their efforts.”
As of Dec. 2023, 16.9% of Quebec’s land was protected, the second highest figure among Canadian provinces, behind Yukon at 21.1%, according to the Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database.
Overall, 13.7% of the country’s terrestrial area is currently conserved through PAs (12.8%) and Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (0.9%).
Canada is among a group of 25 nations and regions that have already submitted their updated National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) ahead of the COP16 UN biodiversity summit, to be held in Cali, Colombia, at the end of this month.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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