From the removal of crucial fisheries management policies, to the United States’ exit from the Paris Agreement this November, President Trump’s anti-environment agenda has been nothing short of catastrophic for the planet. Marine ecosystems have felt the brunt of this impact and have fallen victim to the President’s “war on oceans,” facing unprecedented loss of biodiversity and marine wildlife extinction.
For the past four years, environmentalists and the scientific community have been plagued by consistent attacks on the oceans coming from the White House. The deregulation and revision of essential environmental protection policies, such as the Endangered Species Act, as well as funding cuts to ocean-focused organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, for example, have put already fragile marine ecosystems in an exceptionally vulnerable position.
Yet as America prepares for the transition to a new administration, there is cause for hope; the reversal of Trump’s detrimental impact on the environment and oceans begins with President Elect Joe Biden’s bold, science-based environmental plan and its dedication to marine conservation efforts.
Released in July 2020, Biden’s environment strategy involves a slew of progressive and research-backed policies, addressing a wide range of topics from climate justice to carbon emissions. It guarantees a re-entry into the Paris Agreement, and promises increased support for clean energy sources, committing to the manufacturing and installation of over 500 million solar panels within the next five years.
While these are all notable assurances and policy points, the real highlight of the plan – which has scientists and the marine conservation community especially hopeful – is the commitment it makes to the “30-by-30” goal.
30-by-30 is a global objective which involves the conservation of 30% of the planet’s land and water by 2030. Backed by scientific research suggesting that protecting large areas of the planet is essential to the restoration and preservation of biodiversity, this target reflects a theme of providing space for nature to thrive. 30-by-30 plays into a larger global goal of conserving 50% of the world’s land and water by 2050, and is widely considered to be the first step in rehabilitating the planet’s ecosystems. In fact, a recent study on biodiversity in tropical ecosystems found that 30-by-30 could cut the rate of species extinction in half.
In the context of ocean conservation, the 30-by-30 goal would mean critical protection for American coastal communities and ecosystems, of which nearly all were recently opened for increased oil extraction by the Trump Administration. This has posed a serious risk not only to the health and biodiversity of these areas, but also to the 95 million Americans – almost 30% of the population – who live in coastal communities and are reliant on marine resources for survival and for their livelihoods..
A 30-by-30 policy adopted by the United States and the Biden administration could also mean increased support for the implementation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) both globally and domestically. This is a gap that Biden’s environmental strategy could serve to fill, as only around 7.5% of the world’s oceans are under some sort of protection or are listed as MPAs.
The concept of 30-by-30 is not exactly new – it has floated around scientific and environmental policy circles for years. In a recent episode of the How To Save a Planet podcast, marine biologist and ocean conservation expert Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson noted that for a decade now, the scientific community has made it clear that maintaining a stable environment hinges on the protection of a third of the world’s biodiversity: “I know the science supports [30-by-30],” Johnson says, but “politicians never will.”
That is what makes this policy so important. Until recently, it didn’t seem likely that such a progressive approach to conservation would ever make its way to the White House. “To see how quickly [30-by-30] has evolved, from scientific papers that seemed robust but wistful,” says Johnson, “to that being part of Joe Biden’s Presidential platform” is, needless to say, a big step in the right direction.
Although it is ambitious, the 30-by-30 goal is not all that special; in fact, the United Kingdom voiced its support for the policy earlier this year. In the US, Democrats like Representative Deb Haaland and Senator Tom Udall have previously been vocal about their support for this goal, urging their fellow policy-makers to consider the importance of conserving America’s land and water. However, Biden’s choice to include 30-by-30 in his Presidential platform is unique in that never before has an environmental policy this progressive been backed at the Presidential level. The environmental community is eager to see it come to life.
Whether Biden’s plans for 30-by-30 will come to bear fruit in the near future, however, is a different story all together. For one thing, the nature of the American system of government means that – regardless if he has won the Presidency – without a Democratic Senate and House of Representatives, Biden will certainly face difficulty pushing these environmental policies forward. Nevertheless, with the help of executive orders, the support of environmental activists, and Wall Street’s newfound penchant for sustainable business, we may soon see a turn for the better in American environmental policy. After all, the sake of our oceans – and in turn, our planet – depends on the actions of world powers like the United States.
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