To assess the quality of the environment and the impact of certain practices, scientists are increasingly turning to biological indicators such as plant, fungi or animal species.
The caribou needs you.
To learn about air quality in the city, for instance, we study bees. Clover, meanwhile, qualifies and quantifies the content of air in the ozone layer. In freshwater or marine environments, mollusks are widely used as "bio indicators" to study the level of contamination.
The woodland caribou is an indicator of forest health
In northern Canada, the woodland caribou is an excellent barometer of health for the Boreal Forest, one of the last ancient intact forests on the planet. This unique global ecosystem, a green crown on the north of our planet, is home to an extraordinarily rich biodiversity. The Boreal Forest holds more carbon in trees and soil than all tropical forests combined (more than 208 billion tons) and plays a vital role in preventing climate change. Protecting this forest goes hand in hand with protecting and preserving the species that live there, especially the caribou that has been classified as a "vulnerable" species in Quebec and "threatened" in Canada.
In order to thrive, the woodland caribou needs vast expanses of natural forests that are not degraded by human activities. Unfortunately, forest exploitation and industrial development are destroying the habitat of this threatened species and caribou population is in rapid decline. If this habitat loss continues, the woodland caribou could disappear by the end of the century. Or as Olivier Kolmel, Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Canada, says: "We’ll only see it on our 25-cent coins"!
Provincial governments have the power to protect the caribou
In October, the five-year timeline given by the federal government to the provinces and territories to create measures to protect and restore woodland caribou habitat had expired. It seems five years was not enough time to act for this threatened species.
The Quebec government stayed silent on this report and yet were so vocal last spring when they tried to justify sending caribou from Val d’Or to a zoo in St Félicien.
It’s your mobilization that prevented this from happening.
Now we are counting on you to remind the provincial governments of their responsibility and finally legislate the protection of caribou habitat.
We are asking the provinces and territories to work hand-in-hand with First Nations to secure their free, prior and informed consent for the implementation of woodland caribou conservation plans.
The caribou needs you.