In an Executive Order issued on Earth Day, President Biden directed the development of an assessment of the condition of nature in the United States, tasked the Office of Management and Budget Director with issuing guidance on the valuation of ecosystem and environmental services and natural assets in federal regulatory decision-making, and directed the Council on Environmental Quality Chair, Office of Science and Technology Policy Director, and Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor to consult with other officials to identify “key opportunities” for greater deployment of nature-based solutions to climate change across the government, including through potential policy, guidance, and program changes.
The Order noted that nature-based solutions to climate change include actions that among other things protect coasts and critical marine ecosystems, capture and store carbon dioxide, and conserve biodiversity, and invoked the 30×30 America the Beautiful conservation initiative in stating that it is the administration’s policy to “support collaborative, locally led conservation solutions.”
As to the assessment of nature, an accompanying Fact Sheet said that the country currently “lacks comprehensive knowledge of the state of our nation’s lands, waters, and wildlife and the specific benefits that they provide,” and that the “first-ever assessment of the condition of nature within the United States” will “create this comprehensive picture.” The White House said that the assessment, which will be developed by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, will “also allow us to look ahead at how nature might change in the future and identify opportunities for investments in nature to help achieve our climate, health, environmental justice, and economic goals.”
In a subsequent blog post, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Deputy Director for Climate and the Environment Jane Lubchenco, OSTP Asst. Director for Biodiversity and Conservation Science Heather Tallis, and OSTP Asst. Director for Natural Resource Economics and Accounting Eli Fenichel said that the U.S. National Nature Assessment will “create a holistic picture of America’s lands, waters, wildlife, ecosystems and the benefits they provide to our economy, health, the climate, environmental justice, and even our national security,” and “enable us to identify opportunities for nature to help achieve our societal and economic goals, including the America the Beautiful Initiative.” They added that development of the Assessment begins immediately, with delivery in 2026.
As to the identification of new opportunities to deploy nature-based solutions to climate change, they noted that includes actions to “protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use, and manage terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems to improve nature and our quality of life.”
