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INCREASING POLICY SYNERGY WITHIN SCB AND WITH OUR PARTNERS
One of the most important points in SCB's 2005-2010 strategic plan (www.conbio.org/AboutUs/StrategicPlan/2006/) is that each program should support the others. Evaluation of SCB's policy relevance will not be based on any one of our programs or activities but on the sum of our work and its results. The policy program of SCB is taking shape on all fronts. As described below, we are "mainstreaming" policy throughout SCB and within the conservation community in ways that are relatively independent but complementary. Policy Listserv Launched To complement our policy Web site (www.conbio.org/activities/policy), SCB established a policy listserv in early December 2007. In our opening message we sent our members in North America a brief note on the major policy issues we are pursuing along with an invitation to subscribe. We include major conservation treaties as a key issue area, and we will expand the emphasis of the listserv further beyond North America as resources allow. For example, if we are successful in raising funds for a policy assistant during 2008, we will be better able to answer questions and review proposed postings from a more diverse subscription base. To join the listserv -- regardless of where you live -- or to submit a news item for posting to the list, send an email to policy@conbio.org. SCB Publications Foster Policy Discussions Conservation Biology continues to publish a section dedicated to conservation and policy, as well as contributed papers, essays, and letters that address the nexus among science, policy, and management. Several of SCB's Regional Sections are likely to submit brief manuscripts for a special section, "Conservation Focus on Sections." Articles in the special section would detail the major policy issues that might be informed by conservation biology in each Regional Section's geographic area or ecological realm. Conservation magazine regularly addresses ideas and debates related to policy. For example, the October-December 2007 cover story examined ecological, social, and other issues surrounding potential listing of populations of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Our newest publication, Conservation Letters, also will emphasize policy applications of the natural and social sciences. Consortium Among Professional Societies
Several members of the group met with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to submit a letter on behalf of The Wildlife Society, SCB, and a dozen other professional scientific societies. The letter asked the Department of the Interior to adopt the Office's recommendation that scientists be protected in their participation in scientific societies. In several cases, the Department has suggested that such participation may present a criminal conflict of interest. The group plans to meet again in late February. SCB Briefs the U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus SCB will participate in a series of briefings on environmental issues for the U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus. The caucus has 74 members, including half of the committee chairs in the House of Representatives. The caucus and its working group on the environment recently decided to launch a series of workshops on climate and energy. Workshops will explore issues such as green jobs, international engagement, and domestic climate legislation. Board Members Visit Capitol Hill Led by Jeff McNeely (President of SCB's Asia Section), Craig Morley (President, Australasia Section), and SCB's Policy Director John Fitzgerald, members of SCB's Board of Governors will meet with Joseph Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in Washington, D.C. on 4 March. Discussion will focus on improving the environmental performance of the World Bank and its sister agencies and ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Board members also will meet with one or more senior members of the House Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over most living natural resources in the United States and laws such as the Endangered Species Act. Policy Events at 2008 Annual Meeting John Fitzgerald will lead a workshop on SCB's five major policy issues on the morning of 13 July at SCB's 2008 annual meeting in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In the afternoon, Fitzgerald will facilitate an interactive discussion on advancing those issues in the policy process. Policy experts from government agencies, scientific organizations, and nongovernmental organizations also will participate in the workshop and discussion. In addition, the annual meeting will feature a symposium on the politicization of endangered species science and a workshop on climate change in conservation.
POLICY ISSUE UPDATESSCB Defends Scientific Integrity In mid January, a team of scientists from across the United States came to Washington, D.C. to brief members of congress and their staffs on the role of science and scientists in conserving biological diversity via the activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies. Stuart Pimm, Dominick DellaSala, and Francesca Grifo were among the scientists who joined John Fitzgerald and staff from the Endangered Species Coalition, Union of Concerned Scientists, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, and American Lands Alliance on these visits. We discussed potential ways to develop science-based revisions to policy decisions that were not based on the best available science, and mechanisms to better protect science and scientists. We met with the staff of key committee chairs and members of congress, including the environmental aide to Speaker Pelosi. In addition, we met with the teams from the Government Accountability Office and the Department of the Interior's Inspector General. We recommended expanded investigations and reforms to protect implementation of the Endangered Species Act and related legislation from politically driven abuse of science. On 16 January, The Washington Post carried a story about the visiting scientists and their efforts. Senator Wyden recently requested that the Inspector General review more than 20 decisions of a former official in the Department of the Interior, Julie MacDonald, shortly after a formal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service review of eight decisions found that seven warranted revision on scientific grounds. Senator Wyden and House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks offered their assistance to SCB and its colleagues, including their willingness to convey support for peer review of the final proposed recovery plan for the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina). The January meetings allowed scientists who are intimately familiar with endangered species policy to work with oversight committees and legal experts. Participants also discussed potential Senate and final congressional action on whistleblower protection, including provisions of H.R. 985, a set of whistleblower protection amendments already passed by the House. One of these amendments modifies the definition of "abuse of authority" to include (1) any action that compromises the validity or accuracy of federally funded research or analysis, (2) the dissemination of false or misleading scientific, medical, or technical information, and (3) any action that restricts or prevents publication of scientific material. Abuse of authority is one of five violations that whistleblowers can report and be protected by the act. Green Investment & International Law Among SCB's policy priorities are supporting application of the best available science in environmental and biological assessment procedures and environmentally sound investment policies. We are working to empower key international treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. For example, we are hoping to help define in greater detail the terms of Article IV of CITES. This article requires that trade in Appendix II species be curtailed if the designated authorities in a country determine that the species in not fulfilling its role in its ecosystem throughout its range or if the harvest was illegal. SCB also is working with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the offices of other congressional leaders in response to their requests to help strengthen environmental assessment, standards, and their enforcement at the World Bank and related aid institutions. John Fitzgerald preceded Dinah Bear, Chief Counsel of the Council on Environmental Quality, in briefing a team at the Government Accountability Office as it began an audit of U.S. agencies' oversight of the World Bank's environmental performance, which in turn was recommended by SCB and other professional organizations. Climate Change State, federal, and international policies on energy and greenhouse gases can ameliorate the drivers of climate change and provide substantial new funding for biological research, conservation, and restoration. SCB and its allies have continued to recommend that the United States and other governments (1) consider all available data and alternatives for action while formulating policies on climate change, and (2) emphasize the science of conservation biology in responding to climate change. During 2007, much of the policy work in SCB's Executive Office was devoted to answering questions from committees, offering technical assistance, and, in one case, submitting testimony on energy and climate legislation. Statements approved by the Policy Committee are posted on the policy Web site. As a first step toward addressing the twin challenges of energy and climate security, the Congress approved and the President signed into law H.R. 6, a bill providing reforms in energy policy. The bill included numerous initiatives that were relatively non-controversial (see CRS Summary in www.loc/thomas.gov), but omitted other measures approved by the House. For example, the House version required utilities to generate 15% of their electricity from renewable resources (up to 4% of that requirement could have been met by improving efficiency). In December 2007, before the climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, the Senate Environment Committee approved the Lieberman-Warner climate bill, S. 2191. The legislation was improved in several ways after its initial introduction, but many think that further revisions are warranted. Implementation of the legislation as it is currently written would be somewhat insulated from public and judicial review. In addition, the Supreme Court recently concluded that the existing Clean Air Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate carbon as a pollutant. The Court likely would provide similar recognition to most greenhouse gases. Accordingly, a new administrator of the agency potentially could promulgate standards stronger than those set out in S. 2191. The final bill establishes a cap and trade system designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 2050 to a level that is approximately 65% of today's emissions. The bill also has a carbon import quota that in 2019 will begin to address the carbon that the United States in effect produces through production of goods purchased from abroad. The bill does not contain a provision, suggested by SCB in its statements to the House, that proceeds from such a charge or tariff be redirected to help developing countries achieve cleaner production standards. Several basic questions remain. 1. Will current or anticipated technologies allow us to reduce emissions of all six major greenhouse gases at a cost less than that of global warming and other ecological and economic effects of greenhouse gases and deforestation? 2. How much will implementing this bill cost? Who will pay, and is there a better way to allocate the costs and benefits of controlling drivers of climate change? 3. Is it possible to require an assessment of alternatives to every major new, modified, or re-licensed source of greenhouse gas emissions that is proposed? 4. Should we commit to this program for more than 40 years if the next Congress and President are likely to be more receptive to controlling greenhouse gases, deforestation, and trade in greenhouse gas-intensive goods? The opinions of conservation groups on these questions vary widely. SCB is developing an analysis of S. 2191 for consideration by the policy committee. On 17 January, a new House special committee on global warming and energy held hearings on delays in listing the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Just days before the initial deadline for a listing decision, the Bush Administration proposed to lease large areas of the bear's habitat in Alaska for oil exploration. Timely listing might have constrained such leases more effectively. SCB and the Endangered Species Coalition have explored with Congress a variety of remedies for such delays. With many high latitude and high elevation species listed or proposed for listing, it is unclear how the Endangered Species Act will be applied in the face of climate change. SCB's carbon offset committee is helping us to provide Congress with information on how federal agencies more effectively can address climate change and new sources of greenhouse gas emissions in assessments required under the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Biosecurity Meets the Farm Bill SCB's policy program aims to control imports and exports of invasive species and illegally harvested plants and animals. For example, SCB provided advice to Congressional staff and conservation leaders on legislation that would make it unlawful for any person to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, purchase in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess any plant obtained in a foreign country that is (1) taken, transported, or sold in violation of any law that applies in the place where the harvest, taking, transport, or sale occurs, (2) taken without paying required royalties, taxes, or stumpage fees, (3) exported or transshipped in violation of any legal limitation, (4) taken, exported, or transshipped in violation of any international law, treaty, or international agreement, or (5) without any official documentation of compliance with applicable legal requirements. The International Conservation Caucus in Congress placed a high priority on improved control of illegal logging and trade in its products. Parallel legislation, first introduced by Senator Wyden, was added to the Senate version of the Farm Bill, although the main purpose of the Farm Bill is to support producers of five major grain crops in the United States. The Lacey Act Amendment would help protect forest owners and wood lot managers from market competition from artificially cheap stolen timber. North America Section Comments on Management of Mexican Wolf SCB's Policy Committee approved without dissent a set of comments from the North America Section on an environmental impact assessment regarding management of the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi). The comments, posted in full on SCB's policy Web site, emphasized that a full recovery plan for the species is required under the Endangered Species Act. Resources on the Policy Web Site SCB's Policy Web site, www.conbio.org/activities/policy, contains background information and updates on our activities in each of our priority policy areas. The site also explains how the United States government functions, and how scientists can inform policy at different levels. Moreover, each Regional Section has its own policy page. John Fitzgerald
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