Abstract
At the Conference of the Parties, in Nagoya (2010), 165 countries ratified the Convention on Biological Conservation, which states that marine and terrestrial protected areas should increase to 10% and 17%, respectively, by 2020. At the Conference, the Quebec government, independent of the Canadian government,decided to align its conservation targets with those ratified in Nagoya and stipulated that 12% of its territory will be under protected area status. Currently, only 9.16% of its territory is officially recognized in the network, and the schedule expires soon. The province of Quebec faces many issues that could make achieving these targets even more difficult: the habitats are highly fragmented; the stakeholders are numerous, with diverse interests within the territory; and the conservation sector has generally prioritized a strict conservation strategy. Considering the high expectations of the government and the short period of time left to achieve its objectives,how will it be possible to reach the Nagoya targets by 2020 while considering the socio-ecological factors? In particular, Quebec needs to expand the range of its conservation tools. A multipurpose protected area status is implementing in the province to achieve socioeconomic as well as conservation goals. Establishment of pilot projects within the territory will help in evaluating the protected area networkʼs adaptation to climate change. Even if they cover only 0.50% of the territory, these multi-purpose protected areas could reach the provincial targets. However, clear indicators for monitoring conservation objectives need to be developed to make sure that multipurpose status achieves ecological goals.
