Patricia writes this monthly column for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission
Amid all the media attention on health care reform, economic recovery and the first-moonwalk anniversary, a bill made its way through the U.S. House of Representatives this summer. It may be just one piece of legislation, but it is one gigantic leap for the environment and wildlife.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 contains one section particularly important to wildlife – Natural Resource Adaptation. It sets a policy “to protect, restore and conserve natural resources to enable them to become more resilient, adapt to, and withstand the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification.”
This is a wise course. Federal dollars will help state agencies and others “on the ground” implement the act – to make the kinds of lasting impacts that will ensure our wildlife adapts and is resilient to these projected changes.
Jackie Fauls, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) director of Legislative Affairs, says the money should be there to help Florida’s managers of wildlife.
“The bill includes language that will help fish, wildlife and natural resources adapt in a warming world,” Fauls said. “It provides 1 percent of revenues from a cap-and-trade system that will go to domestic natural resource adaptation, beginning in 2012, and will increase in allocation to 4 percent beginning in 2027.”
The adaptation component for wildlife is crucial because the experts agree that fish and wildlife will have to adapt to rising sea levels and warming temperatures, or they will not survive. It is up to the wildlife managers – in Florida state government, that’s the FWC – to help them adapt and remain resilient.
“Functioning ecosystems are critical to the future of life on this planet,” said Matt Hogan, executive director of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. “They provide a wide range of life-sustaining services in the form of clean water, clear air, and other benefits that determine the quality of human life. Ecosystems can significantly capture carbon and sustain fish and wildlife, which provide billions of dollars in direct economic benefits.”
The FWC has made adaptation of wildlife a priority by forming first a Climate Change Team and then an adaptation group that is already at work designing, planning and creating strategies that will manage fish and wildlife in Florida for the challenges ahead. The climate change bill has the potential to help agencies, such as the FWC, implement these management strategies to ensure no species goes extinct as climate change becomes more and more real.
“Climate change is a complicated issue,” said Terry Doonan, co-chairman of the FWC’s Adaptation Working Group. “We have some understanding of the impacts of climate change, but we have much to learn about the specific impacts and how they change from one part of the state to another. The more we understand, the better we’ll be at ensuring we do the best job possible of managing and conserving Florida’s diverse fish and wildlife species.”
While the politicians debate the virtues of the bill – which could go to a vote in the Senate sometime in the fall – and the wildlife managers plan strategies, individuals can lower greenhouse gas emissions, too.
The National Wildlife Federation asks us to do our part by taking the Good Neighbor Pledge found on its Web site at http://online.nwf.org. I took the pledge today. By promising such things as replacing five incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs; turning off lights when not using them; turning off my PC, monitor and printer when not in use; unplugging electronic devices (or putting on a power strip that is turned off); setting the thermostat two degrees lower or higher, depending on the season; using the air-dry setting on my dishwasher; and driving the speed limit, I passed the test to be a Good Neighbor. I even have a certificate to prove it, although I decided to save the ink and paper and not print it out. It is the simple things we all do together that can make a big difference for our future.
At the federal, state or individual level, all of us can do our best to ensure the forecast for fish and wildlife remains resilient and hopeful.
No comments:
Post a Comment