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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:
1. The Obama Administration must recognize the interconnections between
global climatic disruption and biodiversity loss.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Biodiversity is essential to national security and international
stability.
5. 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%2
0Recommendations%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/Tra
nsition%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.
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