Charest - © Hans Westerling (Flickr); Boreal - © Garth Lenz
Last week over 500 scientists from Quebec and around the world sent a letter to Quebec Premier Jean Charest asking him to fulfill his commitment to protect half of Quebec's Boreal Forest, which I described in an in-depth blog post last week. The letter not only emphasized the need for protecting this vast swath of forest, which Charest promised to do in 2008 but has yet to legally implement, but also demanded that development in the remaining half be done sustainably using the best available science.
I was interviewed for the Radio Canada International show The Link, which I have posted below as an .mp3:
Interview with Jeff Wells
Also, here are some of the articles about the letter. The majority of news was in French, so I'll post a pair of articles in French as well as one good overview of the letter in English from Mongabay.com:
French
"Région boréale : 500 scientifiques demandent à Charest un plan durable," Presse Canadienne
"500 scientifiques demandent à Charest de respecter sa promesse," Le Soleil
English
"500 scientists call on Quebec to keep its promise to conserve half of its boreal forest," Mongabay.com