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Duke Institute highlights new '30x30' commitment for revised strategy in handling climate change

Duke University's Nicholas Institute held a virtual conversation about our nation's climate resilience strategy on Tuesday morning.

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By
Kat Campbell
, WRAL meteorologist
DURHAM, N.C. — Duke University’s Nicholas Institute held a virtual conversation about our nation’s climate resilience strategy on Tuesday morning.

The Nicholas Institute has teamed up with other leaders on a nonpartisan project called the Resilience Roadmap to help make recommendations to communities on how to plan for climate change now and in the future.

While attending this conversation today, a topic that came up frequently was President Biden’s 30x30 commitment. The excitement shown by all presenters about this topic is what stood out. The 30x30 plan was approached as a new and innovative approach not only to climate resiliency but mitigation as well.

The 30x30 commitment is to conserve and protect 30% of the US land and waters by 2030. This is a scientific-based approach to safeguard the health and wellbeing of the biodiversity on this planet. This plan could help protect different animal and plant species, trees that counteract our carbon emissions, clean water sources and many other benefits.

Where do we stand on this goal now? As of January, the USGS reports only 12% of the U.S. land is protected and 23% of US oceans are protected. The ocean protection is disproportionately favoring the western Pacific.

The 30x30 commitment is undoubtedly an ambitious goal to set in less than 10 years. How do we reach this goal? The Biden administration plans to do so by “supporting local, state, private, and tribally led nature conservation and conservation and restoration efforts.”

It’s not a very detailed plan, but the interior will be evaluating and providing next steps to reach this newly laid-out goal. You can read more about it here: Biden signs Executive Order to restore balance on public lands and waters

This is just one of the new planned steps toward ensuring a healthy environment in the future, but it seemed to be the step that garnered the most excitement. Future steps toward pre-disaster mitigation, preparation, and focus on equity in climate resilience will all go hand-in-hand moving forward.

Cecilia Martinez is the Senior Director for Environmental Justice at the Council on Environmental Quality and she said it best.

“We all need to live in a healthy environment,” Martinez said.

How do we achieve this? The answer comes in many forms of climate resiliency including building and infrastructure, natural resiliency and conservation and preparation for severe events.

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