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UPDATE FROM SCB'S POLICY PROGRAM

The third and fourth quarters of 2009 saw an upsurge of SCB policy progress. In part this reflected meetings hosted by the Europe Section and by the Colorado Plateau Chapter in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey. Meeting attendees prepared policy recommendations that were informed in part by the scientific content of the meetings.

The Europe Section prepared draft policy recommendations that were available to meeting participants for review and revision. The section board and I helped to consolidate these recommendations into a statement urging environment ministers to strengthen the Habitat Directive of the European Union on the occasion of its tenth anniversary review. This statement, while consonant with SCB goals and policies, was a product of meeting attendees from more than 60 countries rather than from SCB. The statement emphasized that lack of enforcement and implementation have contributed to the directive's failure to halt losses of biological diversity in Europe.

The North America Section held a policy workshop immediately after the 10th Biennial Conference of Research on the Colorado Plateau. The conference was organized by SCB's Colorado Plateau Chapter and the U.S. Geological Survey. Speakers at the workshop included the Secretary of Energy of New Mexico and the former chief counsel of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Climate Change

SCB's policy committee has been reviewing new research on forests and climate change, including work on sequestration of carbon in old growth forests and drought and heat stress in tropical rainforests. In August we sent the summaries of these studies to the Senate Environment Committee, which had asked for our help in developing their approach to forests. The Senate Committee leadership introduced its draft bill on 30 September.

More policy news, including an executive order on Climate Change that was executed on 5 October and the Secretary of the Interior's directive on the same subject, is available at www.conbio.org/resources/policy.

Marine Scientific Integrity

The Marine Section and policy director prepared a filing for the ocean policy process led by the White House. We recommended steps to reduce noise in U.S. waters.

John Fitzgerald, Policy Director, SCB

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