As part of President Biden’s plan to tackle climate change, his administration has introduced a sweeping initiative to conserve at least 30% of land and ocean in the United States by 2030 (30 by 30), helping to confront the threats of climate change and biodiversity loss.

This is a big step towards U.S. climate mitigation. Our natural resources play a vital role in pulling planet-warming carbon out of the atmosphere and sequestering it away. Protecting 30% of America’s natural areas will help stabilize the climate, restore local water cycles, and protect biodiversity. At present approximately 14% of U.S. lands are protected, along with roughly 23% of its coastal waters.

Continued human development is devastating our natural resources -- from 2001 to 2017 the U.S. lost a football field’s worth of natural area every 30 seconds to highways, mines, suburbs, and other development. And as we come out of the most environmentally destructive administration at the hands of Trump, who attempted to remove protections from nearly 35 million acres of public lands, it is vital we immediately begin to readdress and reinstate our progress towards conservation and climate mitigation.

Meeting the 30 by 30 goal will require coordination among multiple federal agencies, states, tribes, and communities. Biden’s plan must include the rights, voices, and knowledge of Indigenous peoples, who have protected and managed the lands and waters for millennia.

Additionally, the costs and impacts of climate change and environmental degradation have disproportionately affected low-income communities and communities of color. This plan must address rebuilding communities affected by environmental injustice.

We can and must work towards equitable climate solutions and conservation, and this plan is a start. Four out of five voters nationwide favor a plan to protect at least 30 percent of our land, inland waters, and ocean areas by 2030. Add your voice in support!

Sign the petition: Support the 30 by 30 plan and help conserve U.S. natural resources.