The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is grateful to the Orchestre de l’Agora and its audience.

Your support has been essential to launching our campaign to protect and endow the Kenauk territory, a vast natural environment unique in Canada located between Montreal and Ottawa-Gatineau. Its ancient forests, deep lakes, and swift rivers are home to more than a hundred rare or endangered species. The long-term conservation of Kenauk is a priority as well as an important opportunity for scientific research and youth education. It is for youth access to nature that CNC has asked for your generosity to support the development of the Kenauk Institute, a charitable organization created to promote the site’s mission for research and education.

The generosity of the Orchestre allowed CNC and the Kenauk Institute to launch the campaign in 2022 and raise more than $20M to protect this territory and support research and environmental education programs for young people. Since then, more than 1000 ha of riverside habitat has been protected around Lake Papineau. The multi-university scientific program of the Kenauk Institute now includes a permanent watershed monitoring station by the Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM). An astronomy observatory was also completed, and 170 students participated in educational programs in 2023. The Kenauk Institute will be able to offer more internships for young people and welcome more school groups in the future thanks to the benefits of the endowment campaign and the upcoming construction of a main pavilion.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is the country’s unifying force for nature. NCC seeks solutions to the twin crises of rapid biodiversity loss and climate change through large-scale, permanent land conservation. As a trusted partner, NCC works with people, communities, businesses, and government to protect and care for our country’s most important natural areas.
Click on the following links to support the educational programs of the Kenauk Institute or to protect Quebec’s natural sites with the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Report to Orchestre de l’Agora, April 2024

UNICEF expresses its sincere gratitude to Orchestre de l’Agora for your support toward a sustainable, safe and healthy environment for children. We look forward to ongoing opportunities to collaborate on our shared focus to prioritize children’s environments and protect them from the effects of climate change. UNICEF has ramped up its climate, environment, energy, and disaster risk reduction (DRR) work to address the ever- increasing impacts on children and young people from climate change, environmental degradation, pollution, biodiversity loss and from all types of disasters. In 2022, we implemented child-sensitive programs in 69 countries, up from 37 in 2021. Below are two illustrations of how the support to the Safe and Clean Environment fund through the proceeds from Gala de la terre is making an impact for children

Early detection of groundwater depletion in Madagascar

The lack of rainfall and other environmental factors have affected the vegetation and agricultural production, leaving many facing severe hunger. The high levels of food insecurity have already pushed hundreds to migrate and will cause an estimated 479,000 children under 5 years of age to suffer from acute malnutrition.

To predict the risks of droughts, UNICEF, in collaboration with partners, developed a Groundwater Early Warning System (GEWS). Thanks to this system, it is now possible to provide early warnings of drought for better and more proactive responses, and to improve planning for drought adaptation practices, such as water trucking. UNICEF is currently expanding the groundwater mapping so all new water points have online reporting capability.

Child-centered DRR work in Nepal

Nepal is highly prone to flooding, landslides, and other disasters, and children and young people are affected disproportionally. UNICEF has been working with government partners on child-centered DRR since 2013 at national and subnational levels, including promoting the meaningful participation of children and young people in DRR and climate change adaptation decision-making processes.

Significant progress has been made in 12 highly vulnerable districts. This includes the formation of over 240 DRR and school safety child clubs, and the embedding of child-centered DRR into 23 municipal disaster management policies and plans.