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St. Lawrence Strategies: The Community Counterpart of Government Action
During the creation of the St. Lawrence Action Plan (SLAP) by the governments of Canada and Quebec in 1989, seven of the most active environmental groups in Quebec joined the Union québécoise pour la conservation de la nature (UQCN - now called Nature Quebec) to set up Stratégies Saint-Laurent (SSL).
Even if, initially, it is just another program within the UQCN, this new platform is at the very least a credible community counterpart for the SLAP government initiative. Its objectives are to promote the involvement of the population and regional players in protecting, saving and developing the St. Lawrence. Its means: awareness, consulting and mobilization.
One of the initiatives of the Stratégies Saint-Laurent that will have the most benefits on the local participation of riparian communities is its contribution to developing the Area of prime concern program (better known as ZIP [Zone d'intervention prioritaire] program), which is currently supporting the efforts of 14 ZIP committees.
After beginning as a 100% not-for-profit organization in 1994, SSL is today the preferred partner of governments for the community component of the St. Lawrence Plan. The organization in a way serves as a link between the government stakeholders and the riparian communities through committees working on almost the entire St. Lawrence territory. These committees are indeed very active in the field with the local populations in terms of awareness and consulting, as well as for their direct actions of restoring, protecting and developing their part of the St. Lawrence, over practically its entire territory.
Date modified: 2008/06/03 – Important Notices
