Ruisseau Jackson collaborated on this reflection submitted to the Municipality of Morin-Heights. Happy reading!

A major international meeting, COP 15, took place in Montreal in December 2022. A year already! This meeting allowed the signatories of the Convention on Biological Diversity to discuss the issues and solutions to be put in place to reduce the loss of biodiversity on our little planet. One of the identified objectives, to which Canada is formally committed, is to protect 30% of land territories. Each province and territory must also commit to protecting representative and diverse ecosystems to avoid continuing to lose wildlife and plant species but also because these ecosystems provide us with a service by controlling the heat island effect by ensuring the recharge of groundwater by water infiltration, controlling flooding, participating in the depollution of water and air; in short by preserving our quality of life.

Committed citizens of Morin-Heights can also contribute by protecting the ecological integrity of their land by leaving it as natural as possible and by asking the municipality to put land into conservation by different means. Let’s think, for example, of ecological donations or even new acquisitions or collaborations to set up conservation projects on private or public land. And what about limiting construction on the territory? Landscapes and ecosystems are at the heart of our identity. There are few unbuilt natural environments left, there is still time to act.

Sous-groupe Forêt du Comité Consultatif en Environnement