Pursuant to mandate B.15 of the Agreement concerning Block Funding for the Kativik Regional Government (Sivunirmut Agreement), the Department delivers technical assistance to the northern villages in the field of land use planning and development of the territory.

The Department implements the Master Plan for Land Use in the Kativik Region, which covers the territory north of the 55th parallel outside of municipal boundaries. The Master Plan was adopted in 1998 following extensive consultations. It identifies three main types of land use: essential and important subsistence activities, multiple uses, and urban. For its part, the Act respecting Northern Villages and the Kativik Regional Government empowers the KRG to regulate trades, businesses and industries of all kinds in its territory.

The Department is responsible for the processing and management of land use requests in the territory. Letters of conformity are approved by the KRG Executive Committee after the review of feedback provided by the concerned local landholding corporations or the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach. As well, the Department and community representatives monitor developments, such as camps and industrial facilities, by conducting annual inspections to ensure compliance with land use authorizations.

In its strategic action plan adopted in 2002 and revised in 2005, the Québec government committed to expanding the network of protected areas in the province. Nunavik was identified as a key region for protected areas. In 2008, three new protected areas were proposed by the Québec government with the backing of the KRG and the Makivik Corporation and, in 2009, 11 more areas were proposed. In 2013, the report Protected Area Planning in Nunavik on the community consultations organized by the Department during the two preceding years was presented. A working group was then created by the Québec government to follow up on the recommendations in the report. Composed of the KRG, the Makivik Corporation and different Québec-government departments, the working group continues to make progress.