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

Involvement of riverside communities 

Since the second phase of the SLP, the health of the St. Lawrence has not been a matter exclusively for governmental players and experts. The involvement of riverside communities in all types of projects and through several organisations now plays a significant role.

• Creation of 14 ZIP (zones d’intervention prioritaire ― Area of prime concern) committees on almost all St. Lawrence territory (phases 2 and 3). – Following public consultation in their respective regions, the committees implement an Ecological Rehabilitation Action Plan, in which the projects call for the participation of a multitude of local and regional partners.

• Completion, by the ZIP committees and other community organisations, of almost 400 projects within the framework of the Community Interaction Program (phases 2, 3, 4). – These are mostly bank clean-up and stabilisation, wildlife habitat development and St. Lawrence access site enhancement projects.

• Dissemination of 14 regional environmental statements on biological, physicochemical, socioeconomic and human health aspects, by ZIP committees (phases 2 and 3). – Prepared by the St. Lawrence Centre in collaboration with scientists of several Departments and private organisations, these statements serve as a basis for the committees’ public consultations and the development of their Ecological Rehabilitation Action Plans.

• Development of the Observatoire global du Saint-Laurent project (phase 4). – Program offering integrated access to data and information from a network of federal, provincial, university and industrial organisations, for the sustainable development of the St. Lawrence ecosystem.
  

• Holding the forum Un fleuve entre bonnes mains, to promote better networking of community organisations (phase 3). – Some 150 participants met at Mont Sainte-Anne near Quebec City, on 7- 9 September 2001.

• Participation of the 104 organisations of the Biosphère's ObservAction Network (phase 3). – Schools, municipalities and NGOs who take part in collecting data on water quality and on fish communities, in the river and various watercourses.

• Holding the Sommet jeunesse sur l’eau et le fleuve Saint-Laurent, on 24 and 25 March 2006 at Environment Canada’s Biosphère, and publication of the Youth Statement on the St. Lawrence River (phase 4). – Participation of about 50 secondary school students.

• Carrying out of several local initiatives in schools, often requiring active participation on the ground (phases 3 and 4). – Mouille et grouille, Adopt a River, Freshwater Fish Ecowatch Network, Projet cégep, etc.

• Creation of a lower St. Lawrence marine mammal observation network (phase 3). – Organisation made up of ecotourism and maritime transportation companies, to collect data on the whales and seals of the estuary and the gulf.