Universities from across Montréal will be participating in a 10-year United Nations project on sustainable development called Future Earth, according to a press release from the project’s website.
The UN has selected Montréal from a group of more than 20 bidders to become one of five global hubs where research for the project will take place, the press release stated.
The project will tackle global issues such as climate change, agriculture, food security, environmental change and health, and governance.
The international secretariat will be located in Montréal, Paris, Tokyo, Stockholm, and Boulder.
This is the first time Montréal has been involved in widespread collaboration on local, provincial, and international levels to establish a long-term project, according to Lucie Robidoux, co-ordinator of the Consortium for the Future Earth Secretariat in Montréal.
It all started when Montreal International, an economic development agency, proposed to universities in the city that they submit a bid to Future Earth to be selected as a global secretariat. Robidoux said the universities showed great interest.
“We have seven universities that signed up, with Québec and Montréal International’s support,” she said.
“For a long time, researchers have been evolving in their own world,” said Coryell Boffy-Resel, director of the Future Earth project at Montréal International.
Robidoux said project Future Earth allows the international community to look jointly at global problems, instead of looking at the issues independently.
The Québec government is also a major funder of the Future Earth initiative, according to Rémi Quirion, chief scientist of Quebec.
He said the province supported the idea of working with a consortium of partners from around the globe, as sustainable development is a priority for the province.
“Québec has a Ministry of Environmental Sustainable Development and Climate Change and will be in partnership with the experts at universities,” Quirion said.
Quirion said he sees Future Earth as an opportunity to have policy makers engage with Canadian scientists for issues directly relevant to Canada, such as Northern Development.
“We feel strongly that the governmental partners in Canada can use the research gathered under Future Earth to make effective policy decisions,” Boffy-Resel said.
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