Presentations and Discussion from 7:00 to 8:30 pm

Drinks & snacks, socializing, presentations (and optional art museum tour) in the historic Montreal Art Center and Museum in Griffintown.

REGISTER Below.

As global conservation leaders gather at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal, there is major momentum and pressure to expand the protected areas network across Canada.

However, most provinces (with the exception of Quebec) have been conservation laggards, failing to adopt the full federal protection targets, nor providing the key funding to expand protected areas, including conservation financing for First Nations to develop Indigenous Protected Areas. 

In addition, neither the federal government nor any provinces have developed targets for each ecosystem (ecosystem-based targets), meaning that most new protected areas are being concentrated in the lands least coveted by industry (tundra, subarctic and subalpine forests and northern muskeg) while ecosystems in southern Canada where most people and industry are (and most endangered species are found - by no coincidence) - deciduous and mixed forests, productive old-growth forests, and grasslands, have been and continue to be poorly protected. Ultimately an Endangered Ecosystems Act where scientists devise targets for all ecosystems is needed to build a truly ecological protected areas system.

Learn about the diversity of endangered ecosystems across Canada (including with an emphasis on the spectacular old-growth forests in British Columbia as a particular case study), the tools and legal precedents that the federal government has to get the provinces on board, the importance of ecosystem-based targets, and what an “Endangered Ecosystems Act” could look like. See our new video on COP15 and protected areas in Canada.

Tickets also available at the door.

Hear brief but compelling presentations from:

Ken Wu: Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director

Dr. Reed Noss: Conservation biologist, via videoconference

Kerrie Blaise: Environmental lawyer

Celina Starnes: Endangered Ecosystems Alliance outreach director

Hania Peper: Nature-Based Solutions Foundation national coordinator