Muralists took to the streets outside Steven Guilbeault’s office on Friday to send an artistic reminder to the former activist and now federal environment minister that Canada must commit to strong nature protections ahead of a major biodiversity summit later this month. this year.
About a dozen Greenpeace activists and supporters blocked off the intersection in downtown Montreal and spent several hours bringing to life a circular design that celebrates the connections between natural and urban life.
They said they will continue to find creative ways to pressure Ottawa to come up with a strong commitment to better protect nature at the United Nations biodiversity summit, to be held in Montreal in December.
“These ambitions will have to be really high given the crisis we are facing,” said Salomé Sané, a Greenpeace food and nature activist. “We are up against the wall at the moment, and we really have to transform all the ambition that many governments, including ours, have into implementable and measurable actions.”
The 15th UN meeting on biodiversity will be particularly vital because it will reset once-a-decade targets to prevent mass extinctions and environmental degradation. Up to a million species of animals and plants are in danger in the coming decades, according to a UN report.
Delayed two years by the COVID-19 pandemic, the summit was relocated from China two months ago due to ongoing Chinese restrictions to control the spread of the virus. At a preparatory session last October, more than 100 nations committed to the Kunming Declaration put the natural world on the path to recovery by 2030.
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The biodiversity crisis facing the planet intersects with the climate crisis, and solutions could help humans mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change, activists say.
Natural features such as urban forests can help protect neighborhoods during heat waves, which are becoming more extreme and frequent, and widespread planting of trees of various species can rehabilitate landscapes damaged by development or, in some areas, prevent landslides.
“We need to prioritize the health of people, the health of nature, the health of the environment and not industry,” he said, noting that the group’s goal for a Nature and Biodiversity Law would include legislation enshrining social justice. and indigenous rights.
Greenpeace activists blocked the street outside Steven Guilbeault’s constituency office Friday in downtown Montreal, where the federal environment minister, once a Greenpeace activist, will help host the UN biodiversity summit. this year.
Canada fell short of its 2020 commitment to protect 17 percent of its land and water. By the end of 2021, it had conserved 13.5%, including 12.6% in protected areas.
But Sané hopes Guilbeault and the rest of the Liberal cabinet will commit to a strong federal law protecting nature and biodiversity, which could help push negotiators to adopt an ambitious and inclusive global framework for biodiversity protection.
“We will not stop pushing and pressuring the minister and the federal government…until this (nature and biodiversity) law is passed,” he said.
Morgan Sharp / Local Journalism Initiative / National Observer Canada