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Climate Change
State, Federal, and International energy and greenhouse gas policies can reduce the forces driving climate change and provide massive funding for biological research and conservation and for the restoration of ecosystems. |
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SCB and its allies will recommend that the U.S. and other governments ask the full range of questions and consider the available data and options for action across the relevant disciplines while formulating policies on climate change and include conservation biology throughout the range of responses to climate change.
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Statements of the Society for Conservation Biology on Climate Change:
Taxes, Energy and Climate Change to the House Ways and Means Committee (5/1/2007)
Questions from the Committee on Energy and Commerce
SCB answers Questions from Energy and Commerce on options for climate change legislation (April 2007)
Natural Resources Committee approves Energy Reform Legislation (H.R. 2337)
SCB's Comments on H.R.2337 (pdf) - May 31, 2007
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Climate Change News:
 For all of the latest Climate Change News check out the
Environmental & Energy Study Institute Newsletter
Scientists write to Bush on New Research on BioFuels (174kb pdf)
Recent IPCC Reports
A Detailed Summary of S.2191 The Lieberman-Warner America's Climate Security Act (reported 11/1/07)
Update - The energy bill is scheduled to be completed this fall -- SCB Members can contact their Senators and Members of Congress by calling 202-224-3121 to ask what they are doing about the negotiations on the energy bill
Katrina’s Damage to Trees May Alter Carbon Balance
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Timing:
Cities and states in the United States are making commitments to reduce greenhouse gases. Committees in Congress have begun holding hearings and are proceeding with the intention of approving bills in Committees in the House by June of 2007.
In addition to a tighter cap and trade system, the EU is considering increased GHG taxes and import tariffs to reflect costs avoided by exporters without comparable controls.
The Secretary General of the UNFCCC and the UK Government are pressing for a May 2007 meeting of the G8+5 to adopt the outline for a post-Kyoto, post-2012 regime of cap and trade provisions. The Conference of the Parties does not meet until late in 2007 and may not make decisions on post Kyoto plans until after that.
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Issues:
How to fully incorporate biological functions and restoration into the climate change control legal and economic program:
a) How to ensure that the risks, costs, and benefits of energy and agricultural demand and supply options most beneficial to conservation of living natural resources are well considered by major decision-makers. For example, to what extent could pollution taxes and tariffs discourage waste and pollution and fund restorative work in conservation biology to complement caps? How can we best estimate or verify GHG and ecosystem baselines and changes in them for GHG credits or support via spending or tax incentives?
b) How to highlight and set examples to create the best process for informing government and non-government decision-makers going forward and ensure the best adaptive management regimes are implemented. |
Resources:
Offices, Treaties and Institutions
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Research Papers
Carbon Sequestration in Forests, Ross Gorte, Congressional Research Service, March 2007
Climate Change: Three Policy Perspectives, Larry Parker, John Blodgett, Congressional Research Service, Feb 2007
Evaluating the Role of Prices and R&D in Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Congressional Budget Office, Sept. 2006
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