The Quebec pert of the land: the Îles-de-la-Madeleine had planned the coup

Photo Vanessa Loignon
Erosion wreaks havoc on the bike path behind the hospital in Cap-aux-Meules, as here last August.

Vanessa loignon, special collaboration

Saturday, 16 December, 2017 01:00

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Saturday, 16 December, 2017 01:00

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ÎLES-DE-LA-MADELEINE | the last ten years, a road and four houses have been displaced due to the erosion in the Magdalen islands. Thirty sites are also to be monitored.

“It is sure that the people are concerned, but they are not frightened and they are aware of this because we talk about it and that we have done interventions for more than 10 years,” says the member of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Germain Chevarie.

Among the thirty sites deemed sensitive, eight étaent particularly. There is a camping, lagoons, stretches of road, the La Grave historic site and a former dump.

Move preventive

In the spring of 2018, levees topographic air will be conducted to obtain data in depth.

The owner of a house in the Islands, who requested anonymity, had been dreading the erosion and took advantage of the expansion work in order to stay away from the cliffs. It has also installed its own accord, concrete blocks and stones at the bottom of the dunes to thwart the erosion.

The man claims to be more and more struck by this phenomenon, which makes up the islands a bit.

“This is not a phenomenon of which we heard about when we were young. I remember that there was about 12 years old, we had a few falls where there has been a lot of erosion, and this is where it all began, ” he says.

According to the Laboratory of dynamic and integrated management of coastal areas, the islands of the Madeleine lost each year 51 centimeters of coastline on average.

Prevent erosion

These changes are alarming, according to Yves Martinet, director of the comité ZIP in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, a collaborative body in the environment.

“It is worrying that the erosion is changing faster than what we thought,” he says. In addition to erosion, the rising water level is also very worrying.

On a global scale, Islands are the place where the level of water increases twice as fast.

“The Islands are increasingly starting to bury themselves, […] the rise in the level of the waters is a phenomenon that is less well known and to which one starts to be interested “, he adds.