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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The people of Illinois have an important
3relationship with nature and have called on their local,
4state, and federal government to preserve and protect nature,
5both within the State of Illinois and across the United
6States; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Illinois is the home of species and habitats that
8are of ecological, spiritual, cultural, historic,
9recreational, and scientific value to the people of Illinois
10and need to be protected for current and future generations;
11and
 
12    WHEREAS, Illinois and the United States are facing an
13unprecedented biodiversity crisis, largely driven by human
14activity; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Addressing the biodiversity crisis requires
16coordinated action across national and state boundaries; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Human-driven activities are significantly
18damaging the Earth's ecosystems by altering 75 percent of the
19area of terrestrial environments and 66 percent of marine
20environments; these activities are directly exploiting
21wildlife and plant species, accelerating climate change,

 

 

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1directly harming nature, introducing invasive species,
2polluting air, land, and water, and exacerbating other
3threats; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Human-driven activities are threatening
5approximately one million species with extinction in the
6coming decades, including over 40 percent of amphibians, 33
7percent of corals, sharks, shark relatives, and marine
8mammals, over 60 percent of cycads, over 30 percent of conifer
9trees, and approximately 10 percent of over 5 million insect
10species; these activities are additionally causing population
11sizes of wild species to decline by an average of 68 percent
12for mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles, including
13the loss of nearly 3 billion birds in North America since 1970;
14and
 
15    WHEREAS, Human activity is accelerating the decline of
16important economic and cultural services with the productivity
17of nearly one-fourth of the land surface reduced, with over
18one-third of land surface and 75 percent of freshwater
19resources devoted to crop or livestock production, with
20approximately half a trillion dollars of global crops at risk
21from pollinator loss, and with 25 percent of greenhouse gas
22emissions caused by land clearing, crops, and fertilization;
23and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Coordination at a global, national, regional, and
2local scale is necessary to address the biodiversity crisis;
3and
 
4    WHEREAS, The decline of biodiversity disproportionately
5impacts indigenous and other communities that rely on nature
6for essential services, including Native Americans and Alaska
7Natives, who offer unique perspectives and traditional
8ecological knowledge critical to preserving biodiversity; and
 
9    WHEREAS, The United States possesses an abundance and
10great diversity of species of fish, wildlife, and plants that
11are of significant value to the United States for intrinsic,
12aesthetic, ecological, educational, cultural, recreational,
13economic, and scientific reasons; and
 
14    WHEREAS, The decline of biodiversity presents a direct
15threat to the security, health, and well-being of the people
16of the United States by causing economic harm through the loss
17of valuable ecosystem services, including zoonotic disease
18buffering, pollination, water filtration, soil replenishment,
19provision of game species, medicinal products, recreational
20opportunities, and others; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Communities of color, low-income communities,
22tribal communities, and other populations that have been

 

 

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1systematically and deliberately targeted for the siting of
2environmentally degrading activities and excluded from
3conservation efforts face disproportionate impacts from
4biodiversity loss; and
 
5    WHEREAS, There is no coordinating policy to maximize the
6effectiveness of the federal government's conservation efforts
7and collaboration with the states, local governments, tribes,
8private landowners, and other nongovernmental stakeholders;
9and
 
10    WHEREAS, The United States should play a leading role on
11the international stage in addressing the biodiversity crisis,
12yet the United States is not a party to the Convention on
13Biological Diversity, the Convention on Migratory Species, and
14other relevant international agreements; additionally, the
15U.S. does not issue a national biodiversity outlook, contrary
16to most other countries, and does not have a national
17biodiversity strategy as part of the Intergovernmental
18Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem
19Services; therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
21HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
22we urge the federal government to:
23        (1) Establish a national biodiversity strategy to

 

 

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1    ensure the conservation and restoration of the nation's
2    biodiversity;
3        (2) Secure and restore the ecosystem services provided
4    by nature for current and future generations;
5        (3) Deliver on the United Nations Sustainable
6    Development Goals;
7        (4) Set ambitious yet necessary goals for protecting
8    biodiversity in the coming decades;
9        (5) Promote social equity and justice in the
10    conservation of the nation's biodiversity;
11        (6) Coordinate the actions of federal agencies to
12    advance the conservation of biodiversity;
13        (7) Promote collaboration among the federal, state,
14    and tribal governments, nongovernmental stakeholders, and
15    civil society and internationally to advance conservation;
16        (8) Honor the federal trust obligations to tribal
17    nations and Native Americans; and
18        (9) Provide global leadership in addressing the
19    biodiversity crisis; and be it further
 
20    RESOLVED, That we urge the federal government to develop
21the national biodiversity strategy with significant public
22input and in collaboration and coordination with federal and
23state agencies; and be it further
 
24    RESOLVED, That we urge the federal government's national

 

 

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1biodiversity strategy to include direction on:
2        (1) Supporting the national goal of conserving at
3    least 30 percent of United States lands and waters to
4    protect biodiversity by 2030;
5        (2) Setting other goals necessary to reduce the
6    threats to biodiversity as indicated by the best available
7    scientific information;
8        (3) Taking action to protect threatened, endangered,
9    and at-risk species from further imperilment or
10    extinction; and
11        (4) Reviewing existing laws, plans, programs, and
12    strategies that are relevant to addressing threats to
13    biodiversity to assess how they can contribute to the
14    objectives of this resolution and, as found necessary, to
15    recommend new laws, plans, programs, and strategies and
16    fund existing conservation programs and develop new
17    funding sources; and be it further
 
18    RESOLVED, That suitable copies be delivered to the
19President, the U.S. Senate Majority Leader, the U.S. Senate
20Minority Leader, the U.S. Speaker of the House, the U.S. House
21of Representatives Minority Leader, and all members of the
22Illinois Congressional Delegation.