Plan St-Laurent - Pour un développement durable

• The St. Lawrence
  River in good hands
  • Governmental
    actions
  • St. Lawrence Plan
  • 
    • Already 20 years!
    • Highlights
    • Achievements
    • Testimonies
    • Photo album
    • Activity schedule

Achievements

Knowledge acquisition and dissemination

The role of science is paramount in a program such as the St. Lawrence Plan. It enables the status of the ecosystem to be assessed in order to carry out appropriate actions, and to measure the impacts that these subsequently bring. From another angle, dissemination of knowledge to decision makers, users and the public ensure that enlightened decisions are made. A multitude of other activities, for each of the areas of intervention of the SLP, add to the general acquisition and knowledge dissemination activities stated here.

• Creation of the St. Lawrence Centre (phase 1). – Research centre located in Montreal, entirely dedicated to fluvial ecology, doubling up as a documentation centre including thousands of works and electronic files.

• Publication of a summary report on the state of the St. Lawrence (phase 1). – Updating knowledge on the physicochemical, biological and socioeconomic aspects of the ecosystem.

• Establishing a picture of the biodiversity of the St. Lawrence (phase 2). – Analysis of several decades of data, collated in a georeferenced base.
  

• Creation of the program Monitoring the State of the St. Lawrence (phase 3). – Program aimed at understanding the evolution of the ecosystem and taking an overall picture to be updated regularly; based on the monitoring of 21 environmental indicators, plus some others under development.

• Preparation, then updating of 16 information sheets from the activities of the Monitoring the State of the St. Lawrence program (phases 3 and 4).

• Holding the forum Rendez-vous St. Lawrence 2006, at Nicolet (phase 4). – The second forum organised under the Monitoring the State of the St. Lawrence program, with some 200 experts and stakeholders in different areas. It reports the latest results of the program, which show that the St. Lawrence continues to improve despite setbacks on certain aspects.

• Creation of the Centre de données sur le patrimoine naturel du Québec (phase 1). – An organisation which receives information required for interventions in favour of conservation, mainly in port zones; under the purview of the Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs and the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune of Quebec.

• Characterisation of 12 contaminated aquatic sites (phase 1). – Particularly port zones located all along the St. Lawrence; measurements on the rates of organic and inorganic contamination.

• Completion of a study of three families of organic compounds and heavy metals to understand the content and quantity of atmospheric pollutants present in precipitation in the St. Lawrence basin (phase 2).

• Development of an information system for the Fish Habitat Management Program (FHMP) (phase 2). – Providing information on resources, habitats and human factors in all the marine St. Lawrence.

• Preparation and dissemination of a toolkit to assist decision making, for decision makers, St. Lawrence users and the public in general (all phases). – Publications in the form of guides, brochures, atlases, conservation plans, reports for a general audience and other documents promoting the ecological integrity of the St. Lawrence.

• Creation and launch of the St. Lawrence Observatory, St. Lawrence Vision 2000 and St. Lawrence Plan for a Sustainable Development web sites (phases 2, 3, 4).

• Production of four files on St. Lawrence environmental issues relating to agriculture, urban clean-up, water levels management and species disruption (phase 2).

• Publication of info-flashes on the state of the St. Lawrence (phase 2). – 100 technical sheets on chemical, physical, biological, socioeconomic etc. aspects.
  

• Preparation of the mass balance of chemical contaminants and materials in suspension in the freshwater section of the St. Lawrence (phase 2) – With the aim of understanding the contribution of the Great Lakes and tributaries.

• Several research projects on invasive species in the St. Lawrence, notably the Round Goby and Chinese Mitten Crab recently found in the river (all phases).

• Production of an Environmental Atlas of the St. Lawrence (phase 2). –12 maps showing natural and human environments, uses and conservation of the St. Lawrence.

• Completion of an Atlas of Bank Restoration Sites of the St. Lawrence River (phase 4). – Survey of 500 disturbed bank sites (in the fluvial section until the gulf), practical advice and detailed information for restoration.