International Conservation Day, 2024, 93141-93143 [2024-27849]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 26, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 93141-93143]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-27849]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 228 / Tuesday, November 26, 2024 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 93141]]

                Proclamation 10861 of November 17, 2024

                
International Conservation Day, 2024

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Today, I am proud to become the first sitting American 
                President to visit the Amazon and to proclaim the first 
                International Conservation Day, reflecting all that is 
                at stake in the fight against climate change and 
                honoring the power and promise of conservation work. On 
                International Conservation Day, we recommit to working 
                with partners across our Nation and around the world to 
                safeguard our natural treasures.

                When we work together to defend our lands and waters, 
                everyone benefits. That is because conservation is 
                about more than protecting our world's beautiful 
                natural wonders--it is about protecting the livelihoods 
                of the people who depend on them; preserving our 
                diverse habitats and the wildlife that lives within 
                them; increasing resiliency throughout our lands, 
                seascapes, and riverscapes; and ensuring our lands and 
                waters can be enjoyed by all.

                That is why my Administration has delivered on the most 
                ambitious land and water conservation agenda in 
                American history--leading by the power of our example. 
                When I first came into office, I issued an Executive 
                Order that established the United States' first-ever 
                conservation goal--aiming to protect at least 30 
                percent of our Nation's lands and waters by 2030. My 
                America the Beautiful initiative has advanced that work 
                by supporting voluntary, locally led conservation and 
                restoration. These efforts have not only helped local 
                communities, Tribes, farmers, ranchers, foresters, and 
                fishers to address the climate crisis and protect lands 
                and waters. They have also created jobs, strengthened 
                the economy, and expanded access to the outdoors across 
                our country. I also signed an Executive Order to 
                safeguard and steward our Nation's forests and make our 
                ecosystems more resilient in the fight against climate 
                change. And we launched the America the Beautiful 
                Freshwater Challenge to protect, restore, and reconnect 
                8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of our 
                Nation's rivers and streams to safeguard clean water 
                for all.

                I am also proud that my Administration made the largest 
                investment in history to confront the climate crisis 
                through my Inflation Reduction Act and has conserved 
                more than 45 million acres of our Nation's lands and 
                waters. We have established, expanded, and restored 11 
                national monuments and protected the United States 
                Arctic Ocean from new oil and gas leasing. And together 
                with my Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we have invested 
                in restoration and conservation, including $50 billion 
                to strengthen community and ecosystem resilience to 
                climate change. Further, I launched the American 
                Climate Corps to mobilize a new, diverse generation of 
                Americans in conserving and restoring our lands and 
                waters, bolstering community resilience, deploying 
                clean energy, and advancing environmental justice--all 
                while creating good jobs.

                Around the world, my Administration has made 
                extraordinary progress in advancing conservation. We 
                moved to rejoin the Paris Agreement on day one of my 
                Administration, and we put our country in a position to 
                cut emissions in half by 2030 and reach net zero by 
                2050. In 2021, at the United Nations Climate Change 
                Conference COP26 in Glasgow, we released

[[Page 93142]]

                the Plan to Conserve Global Forests--a first-of-its-
                kind national strategy to preserve global ecosystems 
                that serve as vital carbon sinks. We also joined other 
                nations in pledging to end deforestation by 2030, 
                backed by the biggest ever commitment of public funds 
                for forest conservation and a plan to make 75 percent 
                of forest commodity supply chains sustainable. In 2022, 
                we helped rally countries around the world to commit to 
                conserve at least 30 percent of lands and waters by 
                2030, mirroring the goal we had set at home. We also 
                joined other countries at the United Nations to sign 
                the High Seas Treaty, committing to working together to 
                establish marine protected areas on the high seas--a 
                critical step to conserve ocean biodiversity and reach 
                the global community's goal to conserve or protect at 
                least 30 percent of the ocean by 2030.

                My Administration has also delivered record climate 
                financing to support developing countries' efforts to 
                preserve and protect these vital ecosystems that serve 
                as critical carbon sinks, accelerate the clean energy 
                transition, and bolster their resilience to climate 
                change. In 2021, I pledged that our Nation would 
                deliver $11 billion per year in climate financing by 
                2024. I am proud that we not only kept that promise, 
                but surpassed it. This includes fulfilling my pledge to 
                invest over $3 billion per year to help vulnerable 
                countries around the world mitigate and adapt to 
                climate change as part of my Emergency Plan for 
                Adaptation and Resilience. I am also proud that--with 
                our recent $50 million investment--my Administration 
                has provided over $100 million to the Amazon Fund. At 
                the same time, our Development Finance Corporation 
                (DFC) has helped mobilize over $1 billion in investment 
                to support the restoration of degraded lands in Brazil, 
                Uruguay, and Chile, helping create a market that values 
                keeping this vital ecosystem alive and thriving.

                There is still so much to do to ensure that we protect 
                our world's most precious ecosystems and natural 
                treasures. That is why the DFC is investing in one of 
                the largest reforestation projects in the world, 
                beginning with the Brazilian Amazon. I am proud that my 
                Administration is working with over a dozen 
                international partners to launch the Brazil Restoration 
                and Bioeconomy Finance Coalition to mobilize at least 
                $10 billion for land restoration and bioeconomy-related 
                projects by 2030. And I am proud to support President 
                Lula of Brazil's bold vision of creating the Tropical 
                Forest Forever Facility, a path-breaking new initiative 
                that would incentivize countries to protect their 
                tropical forests while supporting the local and 
                Indigenous communities stewarding these forests and 
                ensuring these vital ecosystems continue to thrive.

                It has been said that the Amazon rainforest is the 
                lungs of the world. Forests like these, that stretch 
                across the Americas, Africa, and Asia--including the 
                Amazon, Tongass, Congo, and Sundaland--represent our 
                heart and soul. Now more than ever, we must recommit to 
                the urgent work of addressing climate change--together, 
                we can ensure that these treasures will be enjoyed for 
                generations to come.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of 
                the United States, do hereby proclaim November 17, 
                2024, as International Conservation Day.

[[Page 93143]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord 
                two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of 
                the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                ninth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2024-27849
Filed 11-25-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P