/R E P E A T -- On June 8 we're celebrating World Oceans Day!/

QUÉBEC CITY, May 31, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - World Oceans Day has been celebrated on June 8, ever since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. This now popular celebration serves as an opportunity to remind us that oceans constitute a source of life. This year, the Montréal Space for Life, Québec-Océan and CPAWS Québec are joining forces to offer Quebecers free advance showings of Planet Ocean, the latest film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Michael Pitiot.

Learn more to better protect

Oceans provide a significant proportion of the air we breathe and the food we consume. They are an important part of our history, life and the place we call home. However, oceans are not only threatened by local human activity, but also by global changes. Protecting them and understanding their complex underlying mechanisms is crucial to our future.

"Only 2% of oceans today are protected on a global scale, and even less than 1% in Québec!" says Brigitte Robineau, Coordinator for Québec-Océan. "The research conducted by oceanographers should be the objective basis on which the marine environment in Québec is managed." 

Screenings in Rimouski, Québec City and Montréal

What better way to raise public awareness than with a free screening of a film that not only portrays oceans in all their splendour, but also shows their complex vulnerability?

Ten screenings are also planned in Québec City from June 7 to 9, and marine specialists will be on hand to answer questions from the audience.

Those attending screenings at the Montréal Botanical Garden will also have the opportunity to take part in a series of special activities and speak to a number of guests at the Biodôme to learn about concrete actions they can take to protect our oceans. At the Biodôme, visitors can participant in activities on the vast expanses of plastic and ghost nets. The screening of the 3rd episode of 1000 Days for the Planet, Garbage Patch, will be followed by discussions with crew members of the Sedna IV.

"It's an opportunity for Space for Life to show the public just how fragile our marine environments are, as well as the numerous challenges the international community is up against, and the social, environmental and economic benefits of oceans." says Charles-Mathieu Brunelle, Executive Director of the Space for Life.

And as Jérôme Spaggiari, Conservation Coordinator at CPAWS Québec, explained, "The entire international community recommends that protected marine areas be created since they help to improve the health of marine ecosystems, thus benefiting everyone."

We hope that these initiatives will help mobilize more people to support CPAWS in quickly developing a network of protected marine areas in Québec and Canada!

Free screenings of Yann Arthus-Bertrand's film Planet Ocean:

• At l'Université du Québec à Rimouski, June 7, 2013 at 9 a.m.
• At l'Université Laval (Québec City), June 7, 2013 at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
• At the Musée de la Civilisation (Québec City), June 9, 2013 at 2 p.m.
• At the Montréal Botanical Garden, June 8 and 9, 2013 at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

CPAWS is a non-profit organization founded in 1963 by citizens who were eager to protect natural areas. CPAWS has 13 local chapters throughout the country, and the Québec chapter opened its doors in 2001. CPAWS Québec's mission is to protect natural heritage by promoting the creation of protected areas, improving the management of existing areas and of the entire public territory. Our actions speak for themselves as we have already contributed to protecting nearly 500,000 square kilometres of Canada's natural heritage. For more information, visit www.snapqc.org/en.

Québec-Océan is an interinstitutional research group that is recognized around the world for its oceanography work. It consists of 72 marine science researchers, scattered mainly throughout Québec universities offering oceanography programs and the Maurice-Lamontagne Institute (Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada). The researchers at Québec-Océan take part in ambitious research programs in the Arctic and seas throughout the world. They have access to research vessels such as the CCGS Amundsen icebreaker and the Coriolis II, as well as sophisticated scientific equipment. For more information, visit www.quebec-ocean.ulaval.ca.

Space for Life
The Biodôme, Insectarium, Botanical Garden and Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium come together in one location where nature and science take centre stage: a Space for Life. It is a participatory movement in which communities from near and far are invited to join. And it is also a commitment to protecting our planet's biodiversity.

One location, one commitment, one movement
www.espacepourlavie.ca/en

SOURCE: SNAP Québec

Information or interview requests: 

Murielle Renard
Communications officer - CPAWS Québec
514 278-7627 #221 [email protected] 

Brigitte Robineau
Coordinator - Québec-Océan
[phone]
[email protected]