Four Ways Congress Can Help Birds And People This Year
January 17, 2024 —
Returning lawmakers have an opportunity to help birds, the climate, and our own communities.
Natural Climate Solutions
Maintaining and restoring key ecosystems will help combat climate change and biodiversity loss.
Many of the places that serve as critical bird habitat also have the potential to absorb greenhouse gases and naturally store carbon. These forests, grasslands, working lands, coastal ecosystems, and other landscapes can also help protect drinking water sources, make food systems more resilient, and reduce climate risks like flooding, drought, and extreme heat. That is why Ô¼ÅÚÊÓƵ is working to conserve and maintain more lands and water bodies across the Americas to combat the climate and biodiversity crises.
Investing in the integrity and resilience of farms, fields, wetlands, mangroves, and other key ecosystems will help achieve this goal. Landowner and community engagement play a vital role in management and stewardship.
Ô¼ÅÚÊÓƵ is working with partners to bring nature-based solutions and bird-friendly practices to these landscapes to achieve conservation and sustainable-development impacts at a significant scale. This work includes the Conservation Ranching initiative, which offers incentives for good grassland stewardship through a certification label on beef products in the U.S., and the Americas Flyways Initiative, which is building strategic partnerships to mobilize private and public funding for natural climate solutions and bird-friendly infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean. Staff are also engaged in local and regional projects like the conservation of mangroves and salt marshes, some of the most carbon-rich ecosystems.
Did you know?
- Ô¼ÅÚÊÓƵ’s 2021 report identified 538 million acres of priority forest, 76 million acres of priority grasslands, and 24.7 million acres of priority coastal wetland habitats in the U.S.
- In Colombia, the Sustainable Cattle Ranching Playbook developed by Ô¼ÅÚÊÓƵ and partners is now used by cattle ranchers associations to promote bird conservation across landscapes.
- More than 100 ranches in the U.S. now carry the Ô¼ÅÚÊÓƵ Certified bird-friendly seal, a package label that recognizes lands managed for birds and biodiversity.
What We're Doing
1
Advocating for science-based policies at the national, state, sub-national, and local levels.Â
Staff work to promote the advancement of natural climate solutions through public policies that provide incentives for conservation.
2
Carrying out and supporting on-the-ground conservation action.
Our staff are working on projects that protect nature and restore natural ecosystems.
3
Working with partners to make working lands more bird friendly.
Through programs like Conservation Ranching, regenerative agriculture, and Bird-Friendly Maple, participants adopt sustainable approaches and manage their lands to improve bird habitat.Â
Natural Climate Solutions Throughout the Hemisphere
Regenerative Agriculture Across the Americas
Ô¼ÅÚÊÓƵ aims to bring bird-friendly practices to 4.7 million hectares of productive lands in Latin America and the Caribbean, increasing habitat, carbon-storage capacity, and habitat connectivity across landscapes.
Read about it
Mangroves, a Line of Defense Against Climate Change
The Americas are home to 46,284 square kilometers of unparalleled natural wealth that for years has been overlooked and often an underestimated treasure: the mangroves.
Read about it
Ô¼ÅÚÊÓƵ's Conservation Ranching Program
To combat the negative effects of grassland degradations—and to keep grass on the landscape—ԼÅÚÊÓƵ has developed the Conservation Ranching Initiative. This market-based conservation approach offers incentives for good grassland stewardship through a certification label on beef products.
Read about conservation ranching
Ô¼ÅÚÊÓƵ’s 2021 Natural Climate Solutions Report studied ecosystems across the U.S. that are critical to both carbon storage and to birds, both now and under future climate change, and found that these regions often overlapped.
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