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We submitted a brief as part of the National Mobilization for development of the Government of Quebec’s Nature 2030 Plan.
October 2050, Quebec
Hi dad,
The children laughed at me yesterday. They're used to it when I talk about old stuff like VHS, TikTok and combustion vehicles, but I never thought they'd one day laugh at me because of the endangered species list. It's true that it's a little sad to say that 30 years ago we thought it was normal to have to keep a list of species that we were brought to the brink of extinction - but who would have believed that one day this list would disappear because we would finally have succeeded in living in harmony with nature (today, we only say “live”, but hey, it was another time…).
I was trying to remember the great moments that made this possible. Obviously, there was the signing of the Kunming Global Biodiversity Framework in Montreal in 2022, but I believe that it was really the Nature 2030 Plan of the Government of Quebec which was the key.
It was the first time that the government asked the whole of society to think in depth about our relationship with nature, in order to eliminate our direct pressures and indirect (underlying) effects on biodiversity. It was not only a job for technicians and managers in the environmental field, but also for ethicists, philosophers, artists... the national stakeholders concerned by the Nature 2030 Plan were all Quebecers and the 11 indigenous communities of Quebec.
We obviously had to innovate, but we were no longer talking about technological innovation, but social innovation to reimagine and rebuild our society with a main axis in mind : a society of human well-being and connection with nature. The economy has regained its place as a support system for society instead of taking the central place.
We have rethought our lifestyles, our relationship with the territory, our relationship with time, our working methods, our diets and agricultural methods, our modes of transport and production, our financial system, our education …everything happened there. At first it seemed impossible, but I believe it worked because everyone was consulted and contributed to building these new paradigms. It required a colossal amount of mobilization work, which mainly involved awareness raising and collaboration, but it will have been worth it.
And it was the same thing on the government side. It was not the MELCCFP Nature Plan, but the Quebec Nature Plan. A plan thought out by all ministries so that each of the government's future decisions is consistent and puts nature first. Moreover, the MELCCFP no longer exists today. We have integrated the environment into the entire government: instead of 1.5% of the Quebec budget going to the protection of living things, it is now 100%!
It is thanks to this in-depth reflection that we managed to make these transformative changes requested by the authors of the IPBES and to put in place solutions that allowed us to protect our ecosystems and mitigate climate change, but above all which have allowed us to protect our societies and all living things. Quebec has become a major ecological corridor. We do not only protect living things on 30% of our territory, but on its entirety.
I would tell you about the purpose of this plan, but I often talk to you about it: a life where we are all closer to nature, happier, healthier, where we has more time and more quality relationships in our communities.
I have a tear in my eye just thinking about the work accomplished since then.
I love you,
David