A Primer on Biden’s 30 by 30 Plan

By Johanna Adashek

What is Biden’s 30 by 30 plan?

The plan originated from Executive Order 14008 “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” published on January 27, 2021. Sections 216 of the Executive Order tasked various government agencies with the goal of conserving 30% of U.S. land and waters by 2030, hence the short reference: “30 by 30.” The Executive Order itself did not create detailed directives for achieving this goal, instead, it initiated processes for stakeholder participation, measuring progress, and creating future strategies. While the progress of steps taken to date is hard to measure, this is the first conservation goal that the federal government has ever set. Approximately 12% of land, 11% of freshwater, and 26% of ocean waters in the U.S. has some level of protection to date. This blog post (1) examines why protecting and conserving lands and waters is so vital; (2) identifies steps taken to achieve the 30 by 30 goal thus far; and (3) considers potential future measures that can be taken to reach the 30 by 30 goal.

Why is Conserving and Protecting Lands and Waters Important?

Many of our natural resources are carbon sinks, features that absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere that would otherwise contribute to global warming. In both terrestrial and aquatic environments, features like trees, grasses, plants, mangrove and kelp forests, and coral reefs are all important carbon sinks. It is vital to slow climate change as rising temperatures increase precipitation, which in turn increase storm frequency and severity, increasing flooding, landslides, and sea level rise. Climate change is also causing more frequent and intense wildfires and droughts. Climate change, deforestation, and zoonotic diseases are also inextricably linked whereby changing temperatures and land cultivation heightens overlap between humans and species that could host deadly vectors.

Natural resources are imperative for the survival of plant and animal species, including humans. The disappearance and threatened extinction of bees and pollinators detrimentally impacts crop yields and threatens food production and security. Biodiversity is imperative because of the benefits that healthy ecosystems provide. Healthy ecosystems are made up of complex interactions between biotic plants, animals, and bacteria and abiotic waters, earth, and the atmosphere. All interact to purify our air and water, maintain our soil and nutrient levels, regulate the climate, and provide food and medicine. However, much of our land has been industrialized, deforested, and over-cultivated, and approximately half of U.S. wetlands in the continental 48 states have been destroyed.

Wetlands are one of the most productive ecosystems and are often called biological supermarkets. Their shallow waters serve as natural flood basins, both storing flood waters and maintaining waters for dry periods. Wetlands are also nutrient rich and productive providing not only nutrients for flora and fauna but also contributing to the global nutrient systems, participating in nutrient cycles, and storing carbon from the atmosphere in plants and soil. 

Ocean conservation is also vitally important. Beyond conserving biodiversity for biodiversity’s sake, the oceans and seas provide food, stimulate economies, store carbon, regulate climate and weather patterns, and generate much of the oxygen we breathe. However, the ocean is overfished and overburdened with pollution and plastic waste, and rising temperatures threaten marine biodiversity.

Lastly, access to Earth’s natural resources is also an environmental justice issue. Communities of color and low-income communities experience disproportionately more environmental stressors like industrial development and pollution. At the same time, those communities have less access to nature, clean air, and clean water. However, this issue is multifaceted and complex, as introducing green space into neighborhoods can be a catalyst for gentrification, so that wealthier people enter the community and prices rise, again excluding access to those who cannot afford it. The solution to this problem, and to many of those described above, must consider many factors and ultimately address these problems in ways that both meet the needs of the surrounding communities and combat the environmental crises.

Actions to Date

The first plan developed by the action agencies, titled Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful, detailed some of the collaboration that had taken place with stakeholders and made six recommendations for areas of focus. The initial plan focused on (1) using existing laws and programs to create more parks, especially in disadvantaged communities; (2) growing engagement and assistance available for tribes to build conservation and restoration projects; (3) expanding existing Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration programs working to conserve fish and wildlife species; (4) increasing access for outdoor recreation including hunting, fishing, and hiking; (5) promoting voluntary private conservation efforts through incentives and rewards; and (6) creating jobs in restoration through the American Jobs Plan and a newly created Civilian Climate Corps. Overall, the plan entails creating new parks and augmenting the availability of green space in environmental justice communities. By creating the Civilian Climate Corps, the government creates jobs and includes more people in environmental work. The plan also supports conservation work within tribal communities, while acknowledging that tribes are the most effective stewards of their natural resources.

The past two years have also seen record breaking government funding for conservation. The Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) appropriated to USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service $19.5 billion over the next five years for smart agriculture and conservation programs, which includes the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program. The Farm Bill, a quinquennial law deciding the fate of agriculture in the U.S., appropriates billions of dollars to conservation; the next Farm Bill will be the 2023 Farm Bill that will have a section devoted to conservation and appropriate funds to projects and grant programs. The IRA additionally appropriated $250 million to the Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) for the conservation and recovery of threatened and endangered species and their habitats.

A program in line with the Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful Plan is the America the Beautiful Challenge. This challenge is a streamlined grant process from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation towards conservation and restoration projects. The America the Beautiful Challenge brings together funds from the public and private sectors, including multiple federal agencies. The challenge distributed its first slate of grants in 2022. The 2022 season awarded grants to 51 applicants for more than $90 million, more than a third of which went to projects initiated by tribes. 

In March 2023, President Biden designated two new national parks: Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada and Castner Rangein Texas. In line with Biden’s 30 by 30 Plan, these two parks will provide protection to more than 500,000 acres of land. In addition to these two new national parks, Biden designated Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument in Colorado in 2022 and restored Bears Ear National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, previously diminished under the Trump administration. The importance of these public lands is underpinned by the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed rule on Conservation and Landscape Health published April 3, 2023. This multifaceted plan places conservation on equal footing as other land uses through a new mechanism called conservation leases; applies land-health-based standards to all BLM managed lands; and requires consultation with tribes and Alaska Native Corporations during the decision making process on pertinent matters.

Future Steps to Achieving 30 by 30

In order to protect and conserve 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, many parties, public and private, will have to work together and prioritize the environment. One important context in working to achieve the 30 by 30 goal concerns forest management; the goals include avoiding deforestation, promoting forest conservation, and implementing reforestation. As noted above, it is important that the areas conserved are biodiversity hotspots and that protections are strictly enforced. 

Wetlands, a hotspot for biodiversity, should be preserved whenever possible. Historically, wetlands in the U.S. were filled and used for other purposes. When preserving a wetland is not possible, wetlands can be replaced or parties can utilize wetlands banking. Wetland mitigation banking restores previous wetlands, enhances existing wetlands, or creates new wetlands. As wetlands are powerful carbon sinks, biodiversity hotspots, and nutrient cyclers, wetland creation and restoration should be utilized even when not for replacement of a destroyed wetland.

Agricultural lands and soils also have potential to store carbon. This can be capitalized on through smart farming, like growing cover crops; composting and leaving crop residues; avoiding monoculture and utilizing companion planting; reducing til; avoiding heavy machinery; and smart grazing. Agricultural lands use more than 50% of U.S. land, so the use of smart farming methods could transform barren and nutrient-diminished fields into more effective carbon sinks. Fire management practices can also lead to more resilient forests and protect communities from future wildfires. This involves practices like strategic burns and reducing excess vegetation to areas forecasted to experience dangerous fires.

The U.S. should also join the Convention on Biological Diversity. The U.S. is one of only two nations that is not a party to the treaty. COP 15 for the Convention was held in December 2022, where the parties agreed on the Kunming-Montreal Global Diversity Framework. The Framework seeks to achieve four goals and twenty-three targets by 2030. Similar to what Biden’s Executive Order 14008 wanted to achieve, the Framework also aims to protect 30% of land and oceans by 2030. Joining the Convention would not only convey support for conservation of all of Earth’s resources, but also would enable opportunities for collaboration and ensure the U.S. has a voice in the conversation for the next framework.

Additional Sources

• America the Beautiful, DOI, https://www.doi.gov/priorities/america-the-beautiful (last visited Mar. 31, 2023).
• America the Beautiful Challenge, NFWF (2022), https://www.nfwf.org/sites/default/files/2022-11/nfwf-atbc-20221108-fs.pdf.
• Catrin Einhorn, Nearly Every Country Signs on to a Sweeping Deal to Protect Nature, NY Times (Dec. 19, 2022).
• Juliana Kim and Rachel Treisman, What to know about the new U.N. high seas treaty – and the next steps for the accord, NPR (Mar. 7, 2023), https://www.npr.org/2023/03/07/1161196476/un-high-seas-treaty-international-waters.
• Land Use, Land Value, and Tenure, USDA ERS https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/land-use-land-value-tenure/ (last updated May 21, 2021). 
• Lauren E. Mullenbach et al., Centering environmental justice: Gentrification beliefs, attitudes, and support in park development in a shrinking city, Landscape and Urban Planning, Dec. 2021.
• Lindsey Botts, President Biden Designates Two National Monuments in Nevada and Texas, Sierra (Mar. 21, 2023), https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/president-biden-designates-two-national-monument-nevada-and-texas-avi-kwa-ami-castner-range.
• Sarah Kaplan and Juliet Eilperin, A narrow path for Biden’s ambitious land conservation plan Wash. Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/05/06/biden-conservation-30×30/ (Mar. 6, 2021).
• Sandra Zellmer & Robert L. Glicksman, 30 x 30—Conservation and the Multiple-Use Agencies, 68 Nat. Resources & Energy L. Inst. 34-1 (2022).
• Why are wetlands important?, EPA, https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/why-are-wetlands-important (last updated Mar. 22, 2023).
• Why do we need to protect biodiversity?, European Commission, https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/intro/index_en.htm (last visited Mar. 31, 2023).