Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Whereas Congress passed the Endangered Species Act in December 1973 by a vote of 92–0 in the Senate and 355–4 in the House of Representatives; Whereas President Richard Nixon, upon signing the Endangered Species Act into law, stated, Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share as Americans [and] which we hold in trust to countless future generations of our fellow citizens. Whereas decades of polling have shown strong bipartisan support for the Endangered Species Act, with more than 4 out of 5 Americans in favor of it; Whereas the Endangered Species Act is one of the most successful conservation laws ever enacted by any country, and 99 percent of species protected under the Act have been saved from extinction, including the humpback whale, grizzly bear, and bald eagle; Whereas thanks to the Endangered Species Act, gray whales still swim our coasts, peregrine falcons still soar our skies, and polar bears still roam the Arctic tundra; Whereas the Act is currently helping protect and recover more than 2,000 species of plants and animals that are threatened or endangered; Whereas section 2(b) of the Endangered Species Act incorporates habitat conservation by stating that one of the purposes of the Act is to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved Whereas the Endangered Species Act provides added benefits to people by maintaining healthy natural systems that provide us with clean air and water, food, medicines, and other benefits that we all need to live healthy lives; Whereas the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services published a study in 2019 that estimated 25 percent of assessed taxa of plants and animals and 10 percent of insects, which account for 75 percent of all species, could be threatened with extinction; Whereas, globally, 1,000,000 animal and plant species face extinction within the coming decades, and millions more are declining as habitat loss, climate change, wildlife exploitation, pollution, and other human activities continue to threaten their survival; Whereas North America alone has lost nearly 3,000,000,000 birds since 1970, which is more than 1 in 4 birds that have disappeared from the landscape in a mere half a century, and in that same timeframe, global wildlife populations have declined by an average of 69 percent; Whereas, in the United States, nearly half of all ecosystems are at risk of range-wide collapse; Whereas, as of October 2023, a total of 2,363 species of animals and plants were listed as either endangered or threatened, and 1,668 of all listed species occur in the United States and its territories, and the remainder (695 species) occur solely in other countries; Whereas the unraveling of the natural world remains a fundamental threat to the well-being of all humanity, which depends on millions of species and the countless services that the web of life provides, and each extinction brings closer the collapse of these planetary life-support systems, including carbon sequestration, pollination, water purification, oxygen production, and disease regulation; Whereas the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that climate change has caused local species losses, increases in disease (high confidence), and mass mortality events of plants and animals (very high confidence), resulting in the first climate-driven extinctions (medium confidence), ecosystem restructuring, increases in areas burned by wildfire (high confidence), and declines in key ecosystem services (high confidence); Whereas the planet is experiencing a biodiversity crisis, which many scientists conclude is the sixth mass extinction event, with plant and wildlife species across the globe facing heightened risk of extinction that is largely driven by human activity; Whereas the United States has prioritized the conservation of imperiled species by enacting the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and other landmark conservation statutes; and Whereas the recovery of species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 is a remarkable success that should be celebrated: Now, therefore, be it That the House of Representatives commemorates the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Summary: This resolution commemorates the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.