We are living through a mass extinction of humanity’s making. Just recently, the U.S. government declared 23 more species extinct, and in the coming decades, thousands more species could disappear forever due to climate change and habitat loss. This extinction crisis means fewer pollinators for agriculture, depleted fisheries, and disappearing places like old growth forests that provide a long-term, low-cost source of clean air and water.
At the same time, we are witnessing a global mobilization to address the climate and biodiversity crisis. For example, President Biden has committed the United States to protect 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.
Urge the Biden administration to follow through on this commitment and to establish a National Biodiversity Strategy to comprehensively address this crisis.
We need to ensure that we implement every initiative to expand the safety net for life on this planet. A National Biodiversity Strategy, coupled with the 30x30 commitment to protect habitat, would set us on a path toward global leadership in the fight to save the nearly one million species threatened by extinction in this century. For example, the Biden administration must restore, fully fund, and enforce the Endangered Species Act, which has been 99% effective in keeping plants and animals under its care from going extinct. The Act has given Earthjustice a critical means of going to court to force government agencies to protect habitat and stop human activities harming the most at-risk species. There are few other laws with as strong a mandate as the Endangered Species Act — which is why it is critical we protect it.
We can’t delay. This year represents an enormous opportunity to set new goals for addressing the biodiversity crisis, and a national strategy is needed. Earthjustice’s attorneys are among the best, but we can’t rest our hopes on litigation alone — we need you to contact the Biden administration and add your voice to those speaking up for wildlife and wild places.
