(CN) — Scientists have for years sounded the alarm on the wildlife extinction crisis. In the U.S., avoiding catastrophe will take more than reversing years of regressive policy-making — it will require bolstering landmark federal protections established decades ago, conservationists and scientists said in a report issued this week.
Numerous species of wildlife have disappeared at frighteningly rapid rates and it’s estimated that globally more than a million species face extinction, according to the policy report published in the journal Science.
For nearly five decades, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has been the primary U.S. policy tool for preventing a torrent of wildlife extinction and conserving both threatened and endangered plants and animals and the habitats they live in.
Under the 1973 law, federal agencies must consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure that their actions don’t jeopardize the safety of plants and animals listed for protection.
Implementation of the act has prevented the extinction of multiple wildlife including the bald eagle, the California condor, the Alabama leather flower and Florida manatee. Today, the law protects 1,600 plant and animal species and designates millions of acres as critical habitat for their survival and recovery.
But the landmark legislation has been slowly gutted by the Trump administration, which issued new rules in August 2019 that it said would undo “unnecessary regulatory burdens” while maintaining safeguards for wildlife species.
The new rules allow economic factors to be considered when agencies are deciding whether to list species for protection under the act and also make it more difficult to protect areas where endangered wildlife is not found.
Scientists said in the report Thursday the changes make it more difficult for the federal government to conserve habitats that wildlife will depend on the era of rapidly accelerating climate change.
But simply rolling back Trump administration changes will not solve the regulatory problem facing the ESA, the report said.
University of Vermont conservation biologist Joe Roman said in a statement released with the report that the ESA must be bolstered via bipartisan legislation in Congress that also has the support of energy industry leaders.
"It's not enough to just go back to where we were eighteen months ago; we need reform," report co-author Roman said. "We're not talking about revising the act itself — that legislative can of worms — but it is clear that endangered species, wildlife agencies, landowners, and citizens would all benefit by updating the regulations and policies that are used to implement the law."
The report says clarity is needed to guide implementation of the act, as is evident in the cases seeking protections for the Pacific walrus and the Arctic ringed seal.
While the loss of ice and snow cover has imperiled both animals, the Fish & Wildlife Service decided in 2017 not to protect the walrus. The agency found climate change projections beyond 2060 were "based on speculation, rather than reliable prediction."
But five years earlier, the National Marine Fisheries Service listed the seal as "threatened" using climate projections stretching to 2100 that sync with modeling guidelines for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Ya-Wei Li of the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, lead author of the report, said that ad hoc approach by the agencies can lead to dangerously inconsistent regulatory action under the act.
"This kind of ambiguity hurts everybody and invites political interference that undercuts protections for species, erodes public confidence, triggers lawsuits that are costly for all,” Li said. “It polarizes the ESA, a law that could enjoy far more support across the political spectrum."
The Trump administration should disclose both data and political “principles” guiding wildlife regulation policy and explain their decisions to offer or not offer protections under act, the report said.
