Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a new Executive Order
(EO N-82-20)that will create a California Biodiversity
Collaborative to bring together stakeholders to advance
protection of California’s biodiversity. The order also supports
the global effort to promote biodiversity and combat the climate
crisis. The Executive Order sets as the goal of the State to
conserve at least 30 percent of California’s land and coastal
waters by 2030 and directs the California Natural Resources
Agency, in consultation with the Collaborative, to create a set
of recommendations by February 1, 2022.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because the order essentially
implements a bill that failed in the Legislature this year, AB
3030 (Kalra). CSAC weighed in on the bill
here along with other coalition members expressing concern
with the bill. Our concerns included: (1) that several
counties are already over 90 percent publicly-owned; (2) a lack
of baseline obscures where action on biodiversity is needed; (3)
lack of management within publicly owned lands has contributed to
biodiversity challenges; and, (4) lack of criteria for funding
the proposal. The Executive Order attempts to address
several of these concerns by laying a pathway to a baseline
determination, such as establishing the Collaborative to include
local agencies and assigning a managing agency to the initiative.
The order does not discuss funding.
A second part of the order requires various state agencies to
develop a Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy to
serve as a framework to advance the state’s carbon neutrality
goal and build climate resiliency. This builds upon the existing
programs through the Department of Conservation’s working lands
programs, California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Healthy
Soils Program, and the existing Air Board Scoping Plan process.
