Submitted by Sustainability Correspondent Doug Lockard
No law has done more to save wildlife from extinction than the Endangered Species Act, which has its 50th anniversary this year. But due to decades of underfunding and political attacks backed by vested interests, species are slipping through the cracks.
The Center for Biological Diversity is calling on President Biden to mark the anniversary of the Act by using his power to mobilize extinction-prevention teams to protect these imperiled species groups. The strike teams would bring together top scientists and government officials to create plans to recover the various species. And, crucially, such an intervention would include the money needed to make it happen.
Without rapid, targeted action, in our lifetime we may witness the disappearance of some of the most critically endangered groups of species in the United States: desert fish in the Southwest, freshwater mussels in the Southeast, and imperiled butterflies from coast to coast. The CBD is also urging Biden to restore funding for similar efforts in Hawai‘i, where extinction is a terrifying reality for too many birds, plants and insects. (For a list of endangered species right here in South Carolina, see HERE.)
To learn more, and to take action, visit the CBD’s website.
