PositiveNewsCorner

Based on inputs by Shahid K

Prime minister of Canada Justin Trudeau has announced that Canada will create a protected marine area in the country’s Arctic region, where climate change is taking effect three times faster than global average. The Glacial melting and maritime traffic are also a threat to multiple species off the coast of Baffin Island, in Canada’s northeastern Arctic archipelago.

“Populations of belugas, narwhals, walruses, seals, polar bears and thousands of other species who depend on year-round sea ice to survive are now migrating, dwindling, or in some cases, disappearing,” Trudeau said during a visit to Iqaluit, in the eastern territory of Nunavut.

The protected region is expected to help the Canadian government surpass its goal to protect 10 per cent of marine and coastal regions by 2020. Trudeau also mentioned that his government had recently invested in modernizing the Coast Guard, launching two Arctic patrol vessels to increase protection for national interests in the region. “Our government is committed to enforcing Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic in partnership with the people who have lived here for (millennia),” Trudeau said.