Quebec courts UNESCO to become a “biosphere region”

Quebec City hopes to become the first capital in North America and Europe to be recognized as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO. The application file, in development since 2022, will be submitted by the end of the month and a response is expected in the summer of 2026.

From the outset, the mayor of Quebec maintains that this environmental designation would not harm the economic development of the region. It is a way of putting under a clear and coherent framework how we are going to protect nature and how we are going to achieve development.explains Bruno Marchand.

If we divide the social from the environment, we are wrong. If we divide economics from the environment, we are wrong. It’s a passport to failure.

There are 19 biosphere regions in Canada, including four in Quebec. These are Charlevoix, Mont Saint-Hilaire, Lake Saint-Pierre and the Manicouagan-Uapishka territory.

According to the secretary general of the Canadian Commission forUNESCOQuebec has a good chance of becoming the fifth biosphere reserve in the province.

Yves-Gérard Méhou-Loko highlights the City’s exhaustive consultations to develop its application file, particularly with the Huron-Wendat nation. Harmony between local populations, the communities themselves, including Indigenous peopleis one of the main selection criteria, explains the secretary general.

Obviously, we must also demonstrate sustained efforts to preserve biodiversity. According to Yves-Gérard Méhou-Loko, who grew up in Quebec, the capital has demonstrated its seriousness with several initiatives over time, notably with the rehabilitation of the banks of the Saint-Charles River.

45% natural environments

The territory of Quebec City is made up of 45% natural environments, mainly in the northern crown, where vast wooded natural environments are still present.

The director of the urban ecosystems section at the City of Quebec, Ghislain Breton, also notes the presence of four great rivers which cross the city as well as a potential of 500 wildlife species in the territory.

According to him, the fact that Quebec is located at the convergence of the Canadian Shield, the St. Lawrence Lowlands and the Appalachians will also be an asset for its application to UNESCO.

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If Quebec City became a biosphere reserve, this would be its third designation from this international organization. The historic district of Quebec has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.

Quebec also entered the global network of creative cities in 2017 as a city of literature.