Biden’s Environmental Agenda Must Go Beyond Climate Change
from The Internationalist and International Institutions and Global Governance Program

Biden’s Environmental Agenda Must Go Beyond Climate Change

The cost of humanity’s assault on the planet is astronomical. Biden has a golden opportunity to help the world change its disastrous trajectory by elevating biodiversity conservation in U.S. foreign policy.
A Blue Jeans Dart Frog is seen at La Selva biological station in Sarapiqui, in this January 12, 2006 file picture.
A Blue Jeans Dart Frog is seen at La Selva biological station in Sarapiqui, in this January 12, 2006 file picture. REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate/Files

In my weekly column for World Politics ReviewI argue that Biden's global environmental policy cannot be limited to climate change, detail how the world is experiencing dramatic declines in biodiversity, and recommend three priorities to help the world slow these trends and change its disastrous trajectory.

Joe Biden’s appointment of John Kerry as his special envoy for climate change signals the U.S. president-elect’s determination to place the fight against global warming, at long last, at the center of U.S. foreign and national security policy. His efforts to save the global environment should not stop there, however. Beyond climate change, the planet is experiencing a historically unprecedented collapse in biodiversity, undermining the countless benefits humanity gets from nature. To slow this disastrous loss of species and ecosystems, the incoming administration should spearhead a multilateral effort to reverse the multiple drivers of global ecological degradation, which go well beyond Earth’s rising temperatures.

More on:

Transition 2021

Joe Biden

Forests and Land Management

Climate Change

Global Governance

After four years of catastrophic U.S. disengagement under outgoing President Donald Trump, Biden has pledged not only to restore U.S. climate leadership but also to accelerate the decarbonization of the U.S. and global economies. Biden’s determination to put “climate change on the agenda in the situation room” and mainstream these concerns across all Cabinet departments are welcome departures not just from Trump’s disastrous legacy, but also from the stove-piped treatment of climate action under previous administrations.

Read the full World Politics Review article here

More on:

Transition 2021

Joe Biden

Forests and Land Management

Climate Change

Global Governance

Creative Commons
Creative Commons: Some rights reserved.
Close
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License.
View License Detail