On the anniversary of the Biden Administration’s ambitious ‘America the
Beautiful’
initiative
to protect 30 percent of land, fresh water and ocean in the United States by
2030, a one-of-a-kind coalition has released its policy agenda to achieve
continental-scale conservation by embracing equitably distributed funding and
community-led policies and projects.
The America the Beautiful for All
Coalition (ATB4All) is the
largest and most diverse coalition ever assembled for the most ambitious land-
and water-conservation goal ever set in the United States. The Coalition
consists of 150 organizations working to conserve 30 percent of land, water and
ocean by 2030 to avoid massive species loss, secure equitable access to nature’s
benefits, and prevent and repair the impacts of the climate crisis for all
communities — while ensuring at least 40 percent of conservation investments
support communities of color and frontline communities that have historically
seen underinvestment in conservation and equitable access to nature.
In a 2022 Golin
study,
a large percentage of US adults asserted that effective climate-action
strategies must simultaneously address environmental-justice issues. For years,
data have
proven
the disproportionate impact of climate change and pollution on low-income and
BIPOC communities. Black Americans are 75 percent more likely than white people
to live in areas near commercial facilities that produce noise, odor, traffic or
emissions that directly affect that community. It’s also more likely that people
of color live near toxic refineries or chemical
plants
— where they experience higher levels of exposure to toxins that result in
higher rates of heart disease, cancer and asthma.
A growing number of corporate efforts are attempting to help bolster the health
and wellbeing of these traditionally underserved communities by increasing tree
equity
and access to nature and
sport
in dense urban areas; but federal action to clean up and protect nature across
the country is needed.
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The ATB4All agenda is
structured around 20 policy recommendations developed collaboratively to make
major progress towards climate, conservation and equity goals in the US,
including:
-
Better connecting underserved and marginalized communities with historic
levels of conservation and climate funding.
-
Increasing opportunities for co-management and co-stewardship of public
lands and waters with Tribes, Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives and
Territories
-
Advancing community-led efforts to protect significant lands and waters, and
making these designations more effectively managed and implemented
-
Improving access to open space and public
lands
in statistically nature-deprived communities
-
Phasing out onshore and offshore drilling, and supporting the just
transition to renewable energy that centers on communities and protects
nature
-
Modernizing management processes to restore a balance of uses on public
lands and waters, and make conservation a priority
-
Strengthening programs that benefit clean water and disaster planning to
prioritize nature-based climate
solutions
and distribute funding to frontline communities
"We pulled up more seats to the table and came together to convene the America
the Beautiful for All Coalition so that our conservation policy priorities
originate from and center the most impacted communities on the frontlines of
biodiversity loss, climate disaster, and nature deprivation,” said Mark
Magaña, Coalition
Co-Chair and Founding President and CEO of
GreenLatinos. “Our first policy agenda is
the most comprehensive and diverse conservation priority list, ready for the
Biden Administration to act on now. This agenda will go a long way toward
achieving our twin goals of preserving 30 percent of US land and water by 2030
and ensuring at least 40 percent of conservation investments are made in
frontline communities and communities of color. For decades, environmental- and
climate-justice leaders have asserted that until people are no longer regarded
as disposable, nature will be sacrificed. The ATB4All policy agenda is an
evolution of the conservation movement taking this warning to heart — that we
must prioritize the wellbeing of communities who have been overlooked and
oppressed in order to successfully battle the greatest crisis of our lives
together.”
A core metric of the coalition is
Justice40 — which
will ensure at least 40 percent of America the Beautiful Initiative investments
are made for and with communities of color and frontline communities that have
historically seen underinvestment in conservation and equitable access to
nature.
“All too often, the most vulnerable of us — especially those forced to live in
burdened, marginalized and compromised communities — are alienated from the
opportunity to enjoy, experience and live among waterways and lands that are
healthy and safe,” said Nse
Witherspoon,
Coalition Co-Chair and Executive Director of the Children’s Environmental
Health Network. “Our children are watching our collective
actions and inactions closely. The America the Beautiful for All Coalition is a
genuine effort to connect our glaring equity, public health and environmental
protection needs with a robust and urgent policy agenda that puts protection
first.”
At the recent
COP15
summit in Montreal, nearly 200 countries signed on to the Convention on
Biological
Diversity,
a commitment to ramp up biodiversity protection — including global targets to
restore 30 percent of degraded ecosystems on land and sea by 2030 and conserve
30 percent of terrestrial, inland water and coastal and marine areas by 2030.
While the US is conspicuously absent from the world due to political opposition
in Congress, President Biden made bold commitments upon taking office to
participate in the global ‘30x30’ effort. The ATB4All agenda outlines high-level
goals for protecting land, fresh water and oceans and supporting equitable
access to nature’s benefits while leaving ample room for organizations and their
partners to devise how to reach the targets locally.
“In 2021, a Joint Secretarial Order instructed federal agencies to integrate
Tribal perspectives when making significant policy decisions about public land,
water and wildlife — giving rise to what we now know as co-management,
co-stewardship and collaborative management,” said Pat
Gonzales-Rogers,
Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the Yale Center for Environmental
Justice. These resource-management configurations are directly related to
the extension and recognition of tribal sovereignty, acknowledge tribes as the
original
stewards
of successful and sustainable land-management practices, build a bridge between
traditional knowledge and current science, and represent a real-time
environmental-justice dynamic that corrects many of the mistakes and oversights
of the modern conservation movement. This coalition’s policy agenda ensures that
these management configurations are considered and provides the strength for
their implementation.”
On February 1 at 3:00pm ET, the coalition will host a
webinar
to outline the inaugural policy agenda; discuss where work is already underway
to bring meaningful, community-driven progress on 30x30 goals; and answer
questions for new partners, policymakers and journalists.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Jan 31, 2023 1pm EST / 10am PST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET