With the fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP15) UN conference on biodiversity getting set to descend on Montreal, the city has announced a new initiative to save local endangered species.
The hope is that a new fund can help protect vulnerable animals and plant life for many years to come.
“Because we’ve created all these these human built buildings and spaces, (vulnerable species) don’t have their space anymore. This is what we’re trying to reverse,” said Emiko Wong, head of live collections, conservation and research at Montreal’s Biodome.
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On Monday at the Biodome, officials with the City of Montreal and the Espace Pour La Vie Foundation announced the creation of a new philanthropic fund devoted to accelerating conservation efforts.
The goal is to raise up to $2 million, in the next two to three years, to fund initiatives and research that will protect biodiversity in the face of the human threat.
“It’s very thrilling,” said Wong. “Basically what we’re saying is that we’re really giving more importance to all the endangered species.”
Espace Pour la Vie boasts more than 300 scientists who work on a variety of conservation projects. Their Mission Monarch aims to protect the iconic butterflies, while the wood turtle, the chorus frog and the copper redhorse are among the other imperiled creatures they are working to preserve.
Officials say this new fund will allow them to do so much more.
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“The research will help protect some of the iconic species of our region,” said longtime environmentalist and Fondation Grand Montreal president Karel Mayrand, noting the foundation had made a $15,000 donation to the new fund.
The Montreal Port Authority announced it is becoming one of the fund’s first supporters and the city is hoping to get as many citizens and companies on board as they can.
“We invite all the citizens, businesses and environmental foundations to support this fund,” said Marie-Andrée Mauger, Montreal Executive Committee member responsible for the ecological transition. “We aim to raise $1.5 million in three years to support these research projects and conservation projects.”
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