On September 9th, California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) released their second annual Pathways to 30x30 Progress Report to showcase the progress made in the last year towards California’s goal to conserve 30% of our lands and coastal waters by 2030 (30x30). In 2022, the Pathways to 30x30 document was released by CNRA, outlining the 10 different paths that partners can use to reach our goal.
Based on last year’s report, we projected that we would need to conserve at least one million acres of land and about 83,333 acres of coastal waters every year until 2030 to reach our goal. Unfortunately, this year's report reflects only 861,000 acres of additional conserved lands, and no newly conserved coastal waters.
On the bright side, in the past year we did almost meet our goal of conserving a million acres of land (only 39,000 acres shy), even while operating within a major funding deficit as many State programs and conservancies were viciously cut this year due to the State’s current financial struggles.
Additionally, this year’s report features the Far Northern region of California several times, as the tireless work by folks up here to preserve our rugged lands and coastal waters never fails to inspire work in other parts of the State. One of the exemplary projects highlighted in the report is the Ocean Protection Council’s investment of $9.5 million to support long-term monitoring of California’s Marine Protected Area network, which includes the Tribal Marine Stewards Network—an alliance of five coastal Tribes that conducts monitoring and community engagement with the goal of returning stewardship and management of ocean and coastal territories to California Tribes. The Tribal Marine Stewards Network is an incredible feat that we hope inspires similar intergovernmental collaborations and ocean monitoring across the California coast.
In a September 2024 press release, the Power in Nature coalition (of which EPIC is an active member) calls for the State to accelerate action towards our 30x30 goal by designating three new national monuments and passing Proposition 4 (“Authorizes Bonds for Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, and Protecting Communities and Natural Lands From Climate Risks”) in November. In actuality, passing Prop 4 is up to California voters, and we urge EPIC members and supporters to learn about this proposed climate bond, which would secure $1.2 billion in funding for biodiversity and nature-based climate solutions throughout California. Prop 4 funding would allow for 30x30 to become a reality, and, without it, I fear that our progress will be even less in the following years progress reports.
California is making progress towards our 30x30 goal, but there is still so much work left to do. Nearly five million acres of lands and coastal waters still need to be conserved in the fewer than six years between now and 2030, which will be practically impossible without funding from Prop 4.
Learn more at www.powerinnature.org.
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