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| An overview of SCB's Policy Approval Process is available here.
After reviewing the policy page and resources, one of the most effective ways you can bring science to policymakers is to establish relationships with your government officials wherever you are.
In the U.S., for example, citizens can get to know their Senators, Members of Congress and agency officials working on issues they care about most. Under "Policy Tools and Guidelines for SCB Members" on the navigation bar to the left, we have web sites for offices and research reports to help guide you through the international and U.S. federal policy ecosystems. U.S. SCB members may also want to call the Capitol Operator at 202-225-3121, and ask to be connected to the offices of your House Members and Senators and Committees of interest. |
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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:
SCB Briefs Leaders on New Forest Findings, Climate Change and SCB Climate Policy Recommendations
Inspired by interest expressed by SCB leaders from around the world who attended our conference and climate-related workshops in Beijing in July of 2009, and propelled by new findings summarized in the Summer of 2009 in SCB’s Conservation Magazine, SCB’s policy staff, Policy Committee and others worked from late July into November distilling our previous testimony and incorporating new information into a short set of climate policy principles.
The basic message is that we now have evidence that whole rainforests can -- and in 2005 for one year, the Amazon did -- die faster than they grow, in response to climate driven drought and heat, in this case giving off more carbon dioxide than all of Europe and Japan. Because life as we know it relies upon the Amazon rain forest, and all forests, we do not have any significant room left for additional greenhouse gases and we must reduce them now. The climate policy principles offer ways forward and cite studies offering further details as well.
These principles and supporting notes are intended for climate negotiators, legislators, and executive agency decision-makers. Before the document’s release, and before the Committee reported its legislation to the Senate, SCB sent early drafts to Senate Environment Committee staff. SCB staff and senior members have briefed the Congressional Research Service, the staff of the Speaker of the House, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and others. We have also shared the document with senior staff of the United Nations Environment Programme under whose auspices the climate negotiations are taking place.
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Climate Change News:
SCB Policy Insider Article: Climate Change Legislation in the US (06/11/09)
 For all of the latest Climate Change News check out the
Environmental & Energy Study Institute Newsletter
UNEP’s TEEB -- Among the Most Ambitious Surveys of The Value of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity
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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