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Last month's global biodiversity conference in Montreal established a goal of protecting 30 percent of the world's lands and waters by the end of the decade. The United States is not a signatory to the 30x30 agreement, but President Joe Biden had separately committed the United States to the same goal nearly two years prior. Now with the broad goal in place, the hard work begins of defining what counts as "protected."
Blanca Begert at Grist takes a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities around the definition of conservation. The hardest line to draw may be around mixed-use or working lands, which allow some amount of grazing or forestry.
Helen O'Shea, a land-use expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, explained that “There’s habitat value to be found in all sorts of lands, but the 30×30 effort is about creating a system that’s protected and ecologically representative. A connected system that’s going to link up areas that are solely being looked at for conservation purposes.”
An interagency working group led by the Interior Department has been tasked with calculating and defining these different types of protection in the American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas, which was a cornerstone of President Biden's initial America the Beautiful executive order. But the administration missed its self-imposed deadline to release a draft of the Atlas by the end of 2022, and the Interior Department has gone silent on when it might be released.
Klein to lead offshore energy agency
Elizabeth Klein, a top aide to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, will take over as director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management this month. President Biden had planned to nominate Klein as the Deputy Interior Secretary at the start of his term, but changed course in the face of opposition from oil-friendly senators, including Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin.
At BOEM, which does not require Senate confirmation, Klein will oversee offshore oil as well as renewable energy development plans. Under outgoing director Amanda Lefton, the agency held record-breaking lease sales for future offshore wind development.
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She’s gotten a complete bum rap. Liz Klein is a pragmatic, can-do problem solver.”
