Transition Team Hears NCSE Conference Recommendations
On December 11, NCSE presented the recommendations of its just concluded National Conference: Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World to the Energy and Environment Transition Team of the incoming Obama Administration. NCSE Executive Director Peter Saundry and Senior Scientist David Blockstein were accompanied by colleagues from the Society for Conservation Biology, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Heinz Center for Science, Economics and Environment, and Obama campaign advisor Dan Martin – all members of the conference planning committee, as well as a staff member of the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Transition team participants included David Hayes, head of the Energy and Environment team, and co-leads for EPA, USDA and Interior.
NCSE’s main points were:
- The Obama Administration must recognize the interconnections between global climatic disruption and biodiversity loss.
- Biodiversity research and conservation can be an important part of the Obama Administration’s effort to re-engage US leadership in the rest of the world.
- Biodiversity is a fundamental basis for the wealth of America. The United States should engage in short-term and long-term actions to preserve that fundamental wealth.
- Biodiversity is essential to national security and international stability.
- Proper information is essential to realize the benefits of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
NCSE then provided the nearly 200 draft recommendations developed by the conference participants, including:
The President should issue an Executive Order directing agencies to conserve biological diversity, with particular emphasis on public lands and water and incentives for private land conservation.
Overall each agency should review its authorities, regulations, initiatives, waivers, spending, and related international agreements and report to the President, CEQ, and domestic advisory bodies on things that need to be changed to better conserve biodiversity.
Because of the inevitable climate change that will only worsen, there must be a concerted effort to develop and implement a Biodiversity Adaptation Strategy.
The U.S. should re-engage in existing international environmental endeavors including requesting that the Senate ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on Migratory Species and the Law of the Sea, participating in international efforts to combat global climate change, and developing multi-agency plans for their implementation.
The federal government should use land trust organizations and other mechanisms to purchase lands to help to complete a national conservation landscape that provides resistance and resilience to climate change and protects ecosystem services, as well as assisting the recovery of the real estate market.
The United States must recognize that many social, environment, and security problems are rooted in rapid population growth.
Because environmental problems are caused by a dysfunctional relationship between people and the environment, the government should support research on coupled human-natural systems, including links between population dynamics and biodiversity.
The full set of recommendations are available on the conference website:
http://www.ncseonline.org/Conference/Biodiversity/Recommendations/Breakout%20Recommendations%201st%20edited%20draft.pdf
NCSE also presented summaries of recommendations from previous national conferences, including Energy, Climate Change: Science and Solutions, Integrating Environmental and Human Health, Water, Forestry, Monitoring and Forecasting, Environmental Education, International and Institutional Changes. Along with our colleagues, we emphasized the importance of support for science and for maintaining the integrity of scientific information in decisionmaking.
NCSE’s memo to the transition team can be found at website:
http://www.ncseonline.org/Conference/Biodiversity/Congressional%20Visits/Transition%20Memorandum%207%20edited.doc
The transition team members were very positive, understood the connections among the issues and were very appreciative of our one-hour presentation. They informed us that they are in consultation with the science transition team. They encouraged future involvement from the scientific community. David Hayes concluded by stating “you will be even more relevant” during the Obama Administration.
