![]() ![]() Some western state senators and representatives have expressed concerns over that pause.īiden also had ordered a 60-day review of former President Trump’s move to shrink the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah by two-million acres The New York Times in 2017 described that action as “the largest rollback of federal land protection in the nation’s history.” He has placed a pause on new leases for oil and gas exploration on federal lands and waters, a move that could signal new environmental protections. Immediate tools Biden could useīiden has some immediate tools at his disposal. should take and include input from state, local, tribal, and territorial governments agricultural and forest landowners fishermen and other key stakeholders. President Biden has tasked the Secretary of the Interior, “in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, and the heads of other relevant agencies,” to submit a plan by the end of April. In the U.S., what might 30 by 30 look like? And how will we get there? In their 2019 study, “ A Global Deal for Nature,” a group of conservation biologists wrote that protecting natural lands “not only safeguards biodiversity but also is the cheapest and fastest alternative for addressing climate change and is not beholden to developing carbon removal technologies unlikely to be effective or to scale in the time-bound nature of the current twin crises.” Sign up for our weekly email newsletter and never miss a story. The climate is changing, and our journalists are here to help you make sense of it. Global opposition to clearing rainforests in South America, southeast Asia, and other tropical regions, for instance, not only brings attention to massive losses of biodiversity it also raises alarm that losing these forests means losing places that store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon. ![]() Wilson, for instance, in his 2017 book, “ Half Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life,” called for 50 percent of the planet to be preserved in its natural state.īut the role of natural landscapes as powerful carbon sinks also has been widely recognized. Scientists, conservationists, environmental organizations, and others have long advocated for protecting natural habitats – primarily to protect biodiversity. The challenges notwithstanding, President Biden’s 30 by 30 goal hasn’t come out of thin air. ![]() In total, it’ll require environmental protections for a combined land area equal to twice the size of Texas. The nation is well on its way to achieving the 30 by 30 goal offshore, but getting to 30 percent on land has a long way to go. Today, only about 12 percent of America’s land area is under some type of environmental protection, while about 26 percent of the country’s ocean territories are protected. It’ll take a lot of ingenuity, a lot of consensus, and a lot of sustained commitment across the nation to make the 30 by 30 vision a reality. “Protecting 30 percent of America’s natural areas will help stabilize the climate, protect biodiversity, and give plants and wildlife a chance to adapt to the warming already baked into our current climate.” Plan requires ingenuity, consensus, broad commitment “This life support system … plays a vital role in pulling planet-warming carbon out of the atmosphere and sequestering it away,” the NRDC group wrote. “It’s impossible to overstate the importance of protecting more of America’s – and the world’s – natural places,” a group of senior staff members at the Natural Resources Defense Council wrote shortly after President Biden’s announcement. ![]() The reason: Natural landscapes and seascapes are powerful carbon sinks, pulling CO2 from the atmosphere and storing carbon in soil, grasses, shrubs, and trees, coral reefs, sea grasses, and ocean floor sediments. Nevertheless, achieving the “30 by 30” goal could be a critical marker on the road toward a carbon-free future. The administration initiative is likely to face political headwinds in a divided government. lands and ocean territories by 2030 is among the most ambitious. Among the many goals in President Biden’s climate change agenda, protecting 30 percent of U.S. ![]()
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