IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 195 

Expressing the need for the Federal Government to establish a national 

biodiversity strategy for protecting biodiversity for current and future 

generations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 3, 2023 

Mr. NEGUSE (for himself, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Ms. BROWNLEY, 

Mr. KHANNA, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Ms. BUSH, Mr. 

CLEAVER, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. FITZPATRICK, 

Mr. BEYER, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. BONAMICI, 

Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. JAYAPAL, 

Ms. PINGREE, and Ms. LEE of California) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the need for the Federal Government to establish 

a national biodiversity strategy for protecting biodiversity 

for current and future generations. 

Whereas the planet is facing an unprecedented biodiversity 

crisis, largely driven by human activity; 

Whereas recent scientific studies have confirmed human-driven activities are significantly damaging the Earth’s ecosystems by— 

(1) altering 75 percent of the area of terrestrial environments and 66 percent of marine environments; 

(2) directly exploiting wildlife and plant species; 


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(3) accelerating climate change, directly harming nature and exacerbating other threats; 

(4) polluting air, land, and water; and 

(5) introducing invasive species; 

Whereas these studies have shown that human-driven threats 

have harmed biodiversity by— 

(1) threatening approximately one million species 

with extinction now and in the coming decades, including— 

(A) over 40 percent of amphibians; 

(B) 33 percent of corals, sharks, shark relatives, and marine mammals; 

(C) over 60 percent of cycads and over 30 percent of conifer trees; and 

(D) about 10 percent of over 5 million insect 

species; and 

(2) causing population sizes of wild species to decline by— 

(A) an average of 68 percent for mammals, 

birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles; 

(B) nearly 3 billion birds in North America 

since 1970; 

(C) about 50 percent for live corals; and 

(D) an average of over 20 percent overall; 

Whereas human activity is accelerating the decline of important economic and cultural services, with— 

(1) the productivity of nearly one-fourth of the land 

surface reduced; 

(2) over one-third of land surface and 75 percent of 

freshwater resources devoted to crop or livestock production; 


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(3) about half a trillion dollars of global crops at 

risk from pollinator loss; 

(4) one-third of marine fisheries overfished, 60 percent fished at capacity, and just 7 percent fished below 

capacity; and 

(5) 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions caused 

by land clearing, crops, and fertilization; 

Whereas the decline of biodiversity disproportionately impacts 

indigenous and other communities that rely on nature for 

essential services, including Native Americans and Alaska 

Natives who offer unique perspectives and traditional ecological knowledge critical to preserving biodiversity; 

Whereas the decline of biodiversity and ecosystem services observed worldwide is occurring in the United States; 

Whereas the United States possesses an abundance and great 

diversity of species of fish, wildlife, and plants that are 

of significant value to the United States for intrinsic, 

aesthetic, ecological, educational, cultural, recreational, 

economic, and scientific reasons; 

Whereas the decline of biodiversity presents a direct threat 

to the security, health, and well-being of the people of the 

United States by causing economic harm through the loss 

of valuable ecosystem services such as zoonotic disease 

buffering, pollination, water filtration, soil replenishment, 

the provision of game species, medicinal products, recreational opportunities, and others; 

Whereas communities of color, low-income communities, Tribal communities, and other populations that have been 

systematically and deliberately targeted for siting environmentally degrading activities, and excluded from conVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Mar 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR195.IH HR195

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servation efforts, face disproportionate impacts from biodiversity loss; 

Whereas Federal agencies are tasked with protecting and 

conserving biodiversity in the United States and worldwide through a variety of legal and policy channels; 

Whereas there is no coordinating policy to maximize the effectiveness of the Federal Government’s conservation efforts and collaboration with the States, local governments, Tribes, private landowners, and other nongovernmental stakeholders; 

Whereas the United States should play a leading role on the 

international stage in addressing the biodiversity crisis, 

yet the United States— 

(1) is not a party to the Convention on Biological 

Diversity, the Convention on Migratory Species, and 

other relevant international agreements; 

(2) does not issue a periodic national biodiversity 

outlook, contrary to most other countries; and 

(3) does not have a national biodiversity strategy as 

part of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on 

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services; and 

Whereas scientific research highlights essential pathways forward, including— 

(1) establishing the effective conservation, restoration, and durable protection of at least 30 percent of an 

ecologically representative area of the Nation’s and the 

world’s lands, freshwaters, and oceans by 2030 by working collaboratively with governments, land owners, fishers, indigenous peoples, communities, and others; 

(2) restoring or rewilding species, degraded habitats, 

and ensuring integrity and connectivity of protected 

areas; 


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(3) retaining and protecting highly intact ecosystems; 

(4) reducing pesticide use to levels no higher than 

needed for sustainable, ecologically, and safe food production; and 

(5) addressing the threats posed by invasive species: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) it is in the national interest for the Federal 

4 Government to establish a national biodiversity 

5 strategy to— 

6 (A) ensure the conservation and restora7 tion of the Nation’s biodiversity; 

8 (B) secure and restore the ecosystem serv9 ices provided by nature for current and future 

10 generations; 

11 (C) deliver on the United Nations Sustain12 able Development Goals; 

13 (D) set ambitious yet necessary goals for 

14 protecting biodiversity in the coming decades; 

15 (E) promote social equity and justice in 

16 the conservation of the Nation’s biodiversity; 

17 (F) coordinate the actions of Federal agen18 cies to advance the conservation of biodiversity; 

19 (G) promote collaboration among the Fed20 eral, State, and Tribal governments, nongovernVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Mar 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR195.IH HR195

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1 mental stakeholders, civil society, and inter2 national cooperation to advance conservation; 

3 (H) honor the Federal trust obligations to 

4 Tribal nations and Native Americans; and 

5 (I) provide global leadership in addressing 

6 the biodiversity crisis; and 

7 (2) the national biodiversity strategy should in8 clude direction on— 

9 (A) achieving the national goal of con10 serving at least 30 percent of United States 

11 lands and waters to protect biodiversity and ad12 dress climate change by 2030, supporting inter13 national efforts to achieve the same goal on a 

14 global scale, and setting other goals necessary 

15 to reduce the threats to biodiversity as indi16 cated by the best available scientific informa17 tion; 

18 (B) taking action to protect threatened, 

19 endangered, and at-risk species from further 

20 imperilment or extinction; 

21 (C) climate adaptation and mitigation 

22 strategies for biodiversity conservation, includ23 ing— 


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1 (i) leading international agreements to 

2 combat climate change, including the Paris 

3 Agreement; 

4 (ii) establishing climate refugia and 

5 climate corridors for conservation of spe6 cies affected by climate change; and 

7 (iii) the rapid build-out of renewable 

8 energy; 

9 (D) reviewing existing laws, plans, pro10 grams, and strategies that are relevant to ad11 dressing threats to biodiversity to assess how 

12 they can contribute to the objectives of this res13 olution and, as found necessary, to recommend 

14 new laws, plans, programs, and strategies; 

15 (E) ensuring integration of biodiversity 

16 protection across the activities of the Federal 

17 Government, including foreign policy and for18 eign assistance; 

19 (F) advancing conservation in collaboration 

20 with the State and Tribal governments and on 

21 private lands through incentives, funding, tech22 nical support, and partnerships; 

23 (G) incorporating indigenous knowledge 

24 and practices to support conservation and bio25 diversity, safeguarding the rights and needs of 


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1 indigenous peoples, and ensuring fulfillment of 

2 the Federal trust obligations that apply to gov3 ernment decisionmaking that impacts the inter4 ests of Native Americans; 

5 (H) means to ensure equitable access to 

6 nature, inclusive decisionmaking on biodiversity 

7 protection, and just allocations of resources to 

8 achieve the goals of this resolution, including 

9 for systematically and deliberately targeted pop10 ulations such as communities of color, low-in11 come communities, and Native-American com12 munities; 

13 (I) establishing regular monitoring and re14 porting on the status of biodiversity, in the Na15 tion and globally, including a quadrennial as16 sessment reported to Congress and the Amer17 ican people; 

18 (J) prioritizing programs to identify knowl19 edge gaps and accelerate research and develop20 ment of new conservation solutions across sec21 tors; 

22 (K) assessing and integrating the United 

23 States role in international biodiversity, eco24 system services, and nature conservation in na25 tional security and foreign policy strategies, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 Mar 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR195.IH HR195

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1 cluding in international development policies, 

2 planning and finance, diplomatic dialogues, and 

3 trade agreements, and advancing global adop4 tion of and progress towards the ‘‘30x30’’ goal; 

5 and 

6 (L) funding existing conservation pro7 grams, developing new funding sources, and re8 ducing subsidies that harm biodiversity, in 

9 amounts commensurate with the scale of the 

10 challenge. 

Æ 


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