State Launches Nature-Based Strategies to Fight Climate Change and Protect Biodiversity

EARTH DAY | April 22, 2022

Today, the State announced the launch of a suite of strategies to achieve California’s first-in-the-nation 30×30 conservation goal. This forms a unified game plan for better managing our natural and working lands to combat climate change and protect our communities and ecosystems. Pepperwood is an active participant in this collaboration.

The Pathways to 30×30 strategy document and Appendix D, which outlines research and information priorities to support implementation of 30×30 in California.

Governor Newsom has put forward a historic $37.6 billion climate package – more than what most other countries are spending – to protect all Californians from the costs and impacts of climate change, while accelerating efforts to reduce the dependence on big polluters and fossil fuels. Pepperwood’s take is as follows, in the words of our President and CEO, Dr. Lisa Micheli:

Large landscape conservation is essential to building resilience under a changing climate. It requires bringing people together across geographies, sectors, and cultures to collaborate on conserving diverse ecological, cultural, and economic benefits provided by our dynamic landscapes. Uniting people around this vision is what energizes me everyday. Lately, I’ve been deeply engaged in a collaboration called the California Biodiversity Network focused on making the large landscape conservation vision of “30 x 30” a reality for the State of California.

Governor Newsom has identified climate change as the greatest threat to our way of life, prosperity and future as a State. Of the Pathways report he said:

With our rich natural heritage on the front lines of this crisis, California is building on our global climate leadership with bold strategies that harness the power of nature to fight climate change and protect our communities and ecosystems. Strong partnerships across the board will be critical to these efforts, and the project we’re lifting up today is an inspiring example of the kind of creative collaborations that will help us protect our common home for generations to come.