Why we need a US Alliance for Life on Earth

I've been urging organizations and institutions to coalesce in a new alliance for life on earth. Why?

Urgency. Time is not on our side. Extinction is indeed, forever. Action was urgently needed in 1992, and is even more so now, given the rapidly growing impacts of a changing climate.

 

Scaling up. We must act at a significant scale. Isolated snippets of biodiversity conservation aren’t enough. The United States, especially, needs a coordinating body to coalesce complementary efforts into a powerful national strategy.

 

Community. We must galvanize the vast, dispersed community of interest—the scientists, activists, educators, managers, farmers, ranchers, business people, faith leaders, and others—through networks that can garner the resources and focus human capacity at the scale needed.

 

Coordination. Our work can become more efficient, our communications stronger, and our strategies more robust when we work in concert, not in silos.

 

Saliency. Our society is largely unaware of the value and requirements of biodiversity. This is a major barrier to protecting Life on Earth. The public can drive sound policies and lifestyle and consumption choices, but only if they are engaged. Wider audiences must grasp why this crisis is important to our common future.

 

Synergy. Strategies to reverse ecological degradation must go hand in hand with those tackling climate change. The goals are the same: to safeguard the fabric of life on earth. In concert, wise choices will help solve both problems, while disparate approaches may increase threats to biodiversity and ecosystems. Likewise, strategies for economic and social sustainability are directly linked to a healthy environment and robust biodiversity.

 

Timeliness. It is a new era. We can capture the promise of scientific integrity restored and unprecedented opportunities for action to protect the environment. And, we need to capture new opportunities to address the emerging generations’ missing connections to nature.

 

We envision that the Alliance for Life on Earth (ALOE) will act as catalyst, convener, and clearinghouse to:

Shape the development of a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (as required under the Convention on Biodiversity) to anchor an American agenda on biodiversity and ecosystem conservation.

 

Build collaborative relationships with other governments, international organizations, and other parties to promote biodiversity and ecosystem conservation internationally.

 

Build and coalesce leadership capacity to pursue these strategies at home and abroad, including among national, state, and local policymakers.

 

Build professional teams and cross-sector partnerships to address core challenges, creating opportunities to collaborate across fields and sectors. 

 

Develop a vigorous public communications campaign and an education strategy to:

- improve ecological literacy among the American public;

- build the next generation of biodiversity and ecological scientists, strategists, and problem solvers;

- motivate and engage public action on biodiversity protection;

- build social networks and information systems to accomplish these goals.

 

The Alliance could help us clarify an American agenda, and perhaps then, our pent-up need to connect with the American people on this topic could really get some traction.