Laurentian professor and students to share Sudbury re-greening story at UN conference
John Gunn and two students will present at COP 15 in Montreal later this month
A Laurentian University professor and two students are preparing to head to Montreal later this month, where they'll share Sudbury's re-greening story on a world stage.
John Gunn, the director of the Vale Living With Lakes Centre, will be presenting at the United Nations conference on biodiversity, known as COP 15, along with students Anastacia Chartrand and Avery Morin.
"I can't wait to see what kind of impact we have, and to be able to watch other communities adapt the Sudbury knowledge to their own biodiversity issues," said Chartrand, who is a graduate student in science communication and chair of the university's environmental sustainability committee.
Gunn said the idea to present at the conference came about earlier this year, when a number of dignitaries visited Sudbury to plant the city's 10 millionth tree as part of its re-greening effort, which began in 1978. Since that effort began, 80,000 hectares of land have been ecologically recovered.
We're going to be humble that we came from very dark past.— John Gunn
At that milestone occasion, Gunn and some student leaders met with Steven Guilbeault, Canada's environment minister.
"His staff encouraged us to put an application in to bring the Sudbury recovery story to the world," Gunn said
They did just that, and in late November received confirmation that they had been invited to present at the conference as part of the Canadian pavilion.
On Dec. 19, the final day of COP 15, Gunn will will give a one hour presentation detailing Sudbury's environmental recovery over the years, while the two students will greet delegates and share videos and other information with people at the conference.
While Sudbury's re-greening story has been widely shared over the years, Gunn said he's going into the conference with the assumption that many of the delegates from around the world won't be familiar with the story.
"We're going to be humble that we came from very dark past, we were one of the worst damaged places on earth, we had some of the worst air quality, we were the largest point source of sulfur pollution on earth," Gunn said.
Gunn said he hopes delegates from countries dealing with major biodiversity crises will be able to learn lessons from Sudbury's success story, and that they'll leave the conference with a feeling of hope that overcoming challenges is possible.