- Worldwide, 14.6% of land is identified as a protected area.
- Since the 1990s, at least 48 mammals and birds have been saved from extinction thanks to conservation efforts.
- Over the last 10,000 years, the world has lost ⅓ of its forests. Half of this loss occurred just in the last 100 years.
- 30% of the United States’ total land area is owned by the federal government in the form of national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, and other federal agency ownerships.
Current Problem
Land conservation has historically been a major issue, but with the increasing threat of climate change and efforts to push development into our wildlands, conservation efforts are more important than ever.
As climate change’s effects further permeate our ecosystems, many species will be forced to relocate and change their habits, including what they eat and how they interact with each other. The impacts of climate change paired with land development can be catastrophic for many species, especially because certain areas are more at-risk than others, with mountain and arctic species and ecosystems being some of the most fragile.
With the world’s increasing population, humans are moving closer and closer to wildlands. As developments push into these natural areas, species face habitat loss. Species are also highly disturbed by industry, mainly that of energy, invading wildlands to use resources.
Emerging Solutions
Los Angeles
Through preserving land and expanding our pre-existing protected areas, we can create sanctuaries for these species, thus increasing biological diversity and promoting ecological resilience. In doing so, we can help to sustain ecosystems that help enhance resilience to climate change.
With the world’s increasing population, humans are moving closer and closer to wildlands. As developments push into these natural areas, species face habitat loss. Species are also highly disturbed by industry, mainly that of energy, invading wildlands to use resources. Through preserving land and expanding our pre-existing protected areas, we can create sanctuaries for these species, thus increasing biological diversity and promoting ecological resilience. In doing so, we can help to sustain ecosystems that help enhance resilience to climate change.
By preserving our public lands and wild mountains, we also reap the benefits of ecological processes that occur in these natural areas, some of which include:
- Plants filtering air and generating more oxygen
- Forests sequestering carbon, helping to counter the greenhouse effect
- Vegetated land helping to absorb rainwater and runoff, thus reducing flooding and soil erosion
The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is one of many groups working toward land conservation in the Los Angeles area. With the goal of buying back, preserving, protecting, restoring, and enhancing land, they work to establish accessible parks, open spaces, and wildlife habitats. Since it was established in 1980, the Conservancy has effectively preserved over 75,000 acres of wild and parkland.
California
A group working to protect lands statewide is the Nature Conservancy. They manage and monitor about 500,000 acres of California land and have acquired over 300,000 acres of land for the creation of government parks and monuments. A particular effort they have worked towards has been in the Sierra forests of California. There, they are working to implement controlled burns and ecological forest thinning to restore forest health and make it more resilient to fires and climate change.
There have also been recent administrative actions that are impacting California’s lands. In 2021, with the passage of the Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act, came many protections for the state of California, including:
- The designation of new trails; wilderness; and wild, scenic, and recreational rivers
- The establishment of a special conservation management area
- The creation of the San Gabriel National Recreation Area Public Advisory Council and the San Gabriel National Recreation Area Partnership
- The protection of more than 1.25 million acres of federal public lands and rivers
National
Washington D.C., the Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act, passed by the House of Representatives in February 2021, “provides for the preservation, conservation, and recreational use of public lands” across the nation. The act includes bills that protect federal public lands, with some components being:
- Creating a National Heritage Area System
- Establishing a heritage area in the U.S. Virgin Island
- Adding lands to the Rough Mountain and Rich Hole Wildernesses in Virginia
Another national effort to expand and protect these lands is the work carried out by the National Wildlife Federation. Some of their work includes:
- Reforming oil and gas development on public lands
- Funding conservation programs
- Pushing the Department of the Interior and other federal administrative agencies to implement conservation policies
- Defending special places from fragmentation and development
Global
The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, a group of 70 countries, is fighting for a global deal aimed at protecting at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030. With the goal in mind of reducing species loss and maintaining our planet’s important ecosystems, they are working to ensure safety for our environment as well as economic security.
Ecuador, in 2008, added Rights of Nature articles to its constitution, stating that Nature is viewed as a right-deserving entity, similar to humans. These articles were further built upon in January of this year, with Ecuador’s highest court ruling that the country’s Rights of Nature laws apply to wild animals, stating that wild animals have the rights to not be “hunted, fished, captured, collected, extracted, kept, retained, trafficked, marketed or exchanged”. What makes this ruling so momentous is that fact that typically, environmental law tends to disregard animals that are not considered “important species”, for example, being on an endangered species list.
Ecuador’s allotment of Rights to Nature is a huge step in environmental protections and is an act that all countries should take inspiration from.
As noted at the top of this page this article was written by Ava Dillard.