Protecting Lands is Urgent Step in Climate Action
WASHINGTON – A Special Report on Lands and Climate Change released today by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) underscores both the fierce urgency to take action and the opportunities ahead when it comes to land-use decisions.
The following is a statement from Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Chief Program Officer for the Natural Resources Defense Council:
“This new report makes clear that our Earth’s natural systems are key, along with getting off fossil fuels, to reducing dangerous climate pollution. We must move quickly to transform the way we produce and consume food and to protect and restore natural ecosystems like forests. And that means aggressively protecting at least 30 percent of the world’s lands and 30 percent of our oceans by 2030 if we are to avert, and not hasten, the worst impacts of the climate crisis.”
For more information, NRDC will have a blog by Susan Casey-Lefkowitz here, along with expert blogs upon release of the report on the following topics:
- Biodiversity – Zak Smith
- Agriculture – Lara Bryant
- Dietary change – Sujatha Bergen
- Food waste - Elizabeth Balkan and JoAnne Berkenkamp
- Biomass – Sasha Stashwick
- Canada’s Boreal Forest – Jennifer Skene
- Renewable Energy – Helen O’Shea
- International Climate – Brendan Guy
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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC