We are living through a mass extinction of humanity’s making. 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. In the early days of his presidency, President Biden issued an Executive Order to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad and committed the United States to protect 30% of U.S. lands and water by 2030. Urge the Biden administration to follow through on this commitment and see to it that we establish a National Biodiversity Strategy.
The Biden administration’s 30x30 commitment — 30% of lands and waters protected by 2030 — recognizes that conservation efforts must involve local communities in order to succeed. It states that the government should follow the lead of tribes and communities that face the worst impacts of environmental destruction and who have long been excluded from land management decisions.
We need to ensure that we implement every initiative to expand the safety net for life on this planet. A National Biodiversity Strategy 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. It would mean preventing widespread pesticide use and its harmful impact on pollinators like bees and birds, cleaning up lakes and rivers, and ensuring the recovery of our most imperiled species.
It would restore and fully realize the Endangered Species Act, which has been 99% effective in keeping plants and animals under its care from going extinct. Destructive industries’ relentless attacks against the Endangered Species Act over the last four years are proof of its power.
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 this law.
We can’t delay. The Trump administration worked relentlessly to give polluters a free pass on their obligation to protect our species — we’ll need to work just as hard to undo their damage and take on the extinction crisis. 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.
