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Biodiversity: Without monitoring or a clear roadmap, how can we meet our 2030 targets?

May 22, 2026 - On the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity, more than thirty representatives from organizations, the scientific community, and civil society are calling for a clear, transparent, and coherent roadmap to achieve Québec’s biodiversity targets by 2030.



In 2022, during COP15 held in Montréal, Québec endorsed the Kunming–Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework, through which the international community set ambitious goals to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. In the same context, the Government of Québec released its Nature Plan 2030, structured around 14 targets and 33 objectives.


This is a significant commitment. However, four years away from the 2030 deadline, one question remains unanswered: do we truly know whether we are on track?


Québec now has a plan and an initial 2024–2028 action plan. What is still missing is a complete, publicly accessible, and verifiable roadmap to 2030: intermediate targets, clear indicators, a readable timeline, and a comprehensive accountability framework that allows for tracking progress, identifying delays, and making necessary adjustments.


For example, while achieving the five protection and restoration targets for the territory by 2030 is essential, it is still not clear where or how these efforts will be deployed. Will on-the-ground experts be listened to in order to ensure that protected biodiversity and restored ecosystems are ecologically representative of Québec’s territory and well connected?


Uncertainty is even greater for the other pillars of the Nature Plan: sustainable practices, biodiversity financing, stakeholder engagement, access to nature, and the integration of biodiversity into economic and governmental decision-making. Many projects are underway, and numerous actors are already mobilizing on the ground. However, it remains difficult for civil society and regional partners to determine whether these combined efforts are truly moving us toward the 2030 targets.


This lack of clarity creates unnecessary uncertainty. It undermines mobilization, complicates organizational planning, and weakens the coherence of public action. How can municipalities, regional county municipalities (MRCs), landowners, farmers, businesses, environmental organizations, Indigenous communities, and citizens fully contribute if the overall trajectory remains difficult to follow?


This is compounded by an issue of governmental coherence. Biodiversity cannot be protected by the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks alone. Decisions related to land-use planning, transportation, energy, agriculture, forestry, economic development, and public finance all have direct impacts on natural ecosystems. If the Nature Plan’s objectives are not integrated across government action, they risk remaining peripheral rather than structuring policy.


Québec is not starting from scratch. Actors across the territory are already working to protect, restore, and better manage natural environments. Projects are being developed, regional collaborations are taking place, knowledge is accumulating, and solutions already exist. But these efforts now require stronger, clearer, and more transparent governmental leadership.


Only four years remain until 2030. That is very little time, especially when it comes to conservation, ecological restoration, changes in practices, and transformations in land-use planning.


For a clear trajectory and monitoring framework to 2030


On the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity, the Government of Québec should commit to publishing a clear roadmap to 2030, including intermediate targets, public indicators, and a regular accountability mechanism.


And ahead of the October elections, all political parties should commit to achieving the 2030 biodiversity targets and ensuring their continuity beyond electoral cycles and political mandates. This is a shared responsibility: toward the land, future generations, and the living world.


Signatories (in alphabetical order)

  • Alain Branchaud, directeur général, SNAP Québec

  • Alexandre Beaudoin, conseiller en biodiversité, Université de Montréal

  • André Bélanger, directeur général, Fondation Rivières

  • Angélique Dupuch, professeure, Université du Québec en Outaouais

  • Anne-Josée Laquerre, directrice générale et co-initiatrice, QNP (Québec Net Positif)

  • Bernice Chabot-Giguère, directrice générale, Association des biologistes du Québec

  • Brice Caillié, directeur général, Regroupement des organismes de conservation du Québec (ROCQ) 

  • Carole Dupuis, porte-parole, Mouvement écocitoyen UNEplanète

  • Catherine Avard, codirectrice générale, Protec-Terre

  • David Roy, directeur général, Ateliers pour la biodiversité

  • Denis Réale, professeur, Département des sciences biologiques, UQAM

  • Dominique Berteaux, professeur et titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en biodiversité nordique, Université du Québec à Rimouski

  • Élise Filotas, professeure, Université du Québec - TÉLUQ

  • Emma Despland, professeure, département de biologie et Loyola Sustainability Research Centre, Université Concordia

  • Geneviève Paul, directrice générale, Centre québécois du droit de l’environnement (CQDE)

  • Jacques Brodeur, professeur, Université de Montréal

  • Jonathan Cazabonne, président et cofondateur, collectif Mycosphaera

  • Julie Lafortune, directrice exécutive, Centre de recherche appliquée sur la biodiversité et les écosystèmes, Université du Québec en Outaouais

  • Laura Fequino, chercheuse, Université de Sherbrooke

  • Marco Festa-Bianchet, professeur émerite, Université de Sherbrooke

  • Marie-Audrey Nadeau Fortin, Analyste Biodiversité, Nature Québec

  • Martin Vaillancourt, directeur général, Regroupement des conseils régionaux de l’environnement du Québec (RNCREQ)

  • Mathieu Cusson, professeur, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi

  • Mathieu Laneuville, président-directeur général, Réseau Environnement

  • Mélanie Guigueno, professeure agrégée, Université McGill

  • Monique Poulin, professeure, FSAA, Université Laval

  • Patricia Clermont, responsable Ph.D, Association québécoise des médecins pour l’environnement (AQME)

  • Rébecca Pétrin, directrice générale, Eau Secours

  • Samuel Pagé-Plouffe, directeur des affaires publiques et gouvernementales, Vivre en Ville

  • Sophie Calmé, professeure, département de biologie, Université de Sherbrooke

  • Stéphanie Pelletier, directrice générale, Mères au front

  • Valérie S. Langlois, professeure titulaire et titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada de niveau 1 en écotoxicogénomique et perturbation endocrinienne, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)

  • Vincent Poirier, professeur en sciences du sol et directeur de l’Institut de recherche en agriculture et agroalimentaire (IRAA), Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)

 
 
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