Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia – Next month, the Ecology Action Centre will join environmental organizations from across the country heading to the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity’s fifteenth Conference of the Parties (NatureCOP, or COP15), happening in Montreal. In the days leading up to the conference, Nature Canada is sending three buses decorated as different endangered species– dubbed the NatureBUS – to communities throughout Canada to collect messages of support for biodiversity protection and deliver them to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the conference. Representatives from the EAC will join the Atlantic Canada route.
“The NatureBUS is an opportunity for us to bring messages of hope and action for nature from everyday Canadians and share them with officials on the world stage,” says Mimi O’Handley, wetlands and water coordinator with the EAC. “It’s a chance to hold the Canadian government accountable to our own commitments and show decision makers from across the globe that our communities are ready for action.”
With officials from 195 countries attending NatureCOP and the conference happening in Canada, O’Handley says that this year’s conference offers a unique and crucial opportunity.
“Across the world and right here in Nova Scotia, biodiversity is in sharp decline,” says O’Handley. “Globally, wildlife populations have plummeted by nearly 70 per cent in the past 50 years, and local species like the Mainland Moose and Piping Plover are at increased risk. We need to get serious about protecting nature and centering Indigenous-led conservation, and Canada should be leading by example. Our leaders need to act on a bold plan to halt and reverse biodiversity loss here at home, while helping to land a similar deal on a global scale.”
Nova Scotians can send their messages to the EAC office at 2705 Fern Lane in Halifax before Thursday, Dec. 1, or visit ecologyaction.ca/NatureBus for more information. The EAC will also be hosting a letter and art making event at Wonder’neath Art Society in Halifax on Thursday, Dec. 1. The messages will be presented to Prime Minister Trudeau in Montreal on Wednesday, Dec. 7, and included in an installation at NatureCOP, where several EAC representatives will be attending as observers. EAC’s executive director Maggy Burns will also speak at a panel discussion during the conference.
“We’re encouraging all Nova Scotians to submit their messages to the NatureBUS,” says O’Handley. “It can be anything that expresses your love for nature and the importance of protecting it. NatureCOP is a landmark opportunity to commit to a global plan to stop biodiversity loss, and these messages will help show decision makers at home and around the world that we’re ready to get to work.”
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Mimi O’Handley
Wetlands and Water Officer | Ecology Action Centre
mimi.ohandley@ecologyaction.ca