Center for Biological Diversity

Climate program works to phase out fossil fuels, the source of most greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution which heat the planet and threaten the web of life. Some of the programs accomplishments include the out-polluting progress report, helping to lead the 75,000-person march to end fossil fuels in new york city, and leading a multi-day convergence for youth leaders working on fossil fuel policy. Through our federal and state campaigns, we secure protection for species threatened by the impacts of global warming, hold polluters accountable, fight false solutions, and build power to end the era of fossil fuels.

Public lands program aims to ensure that our public lands and waters are protected, restored, and managed for the maximum benefit to our nation's wildlife and ecosystems.

Endangered species program works to protect and recover imperiled plants and animals and their habitat. This is accomplished through a variety of tools including scientific, research, policy and legal advocacy, and grassroots organizing. Endangered species program obtained lifesaving endangered species act protections for 45 species; protected 3.8 million acres of critical habitat for 44 species including nearly 650k acres for the rufa red know shorebird,and 739 acres for the magnificent ramshorn snail of ncs cape fear watershed; won lawsuit forcing the Oregon dept of forestry to dramatically expand no-logging buffers on hundreds of miles of rivers and streams on more than half of million acres on the oregons tillamook and to protect threatened coho salmon.

1. Environmental health program-program service accomplishments include: making tremendous progress on the centers 12-year effort to get the epa to comply with the endangered species act by settling our national pesticides case for a comprehensive roadmap putting the epa on track to comply with its legal obligations; won major victories in our clean air act litigation that will result in cleaner air for millions of americans; succeeded in protecting water from mining, heavy metal pollution and factory farming; achieved some key interim victories for ensuring that bees dont go extinct. 2. Urban wildlands program- program services accomplishments include: won a ca appellate court case against villages of lakeview, an over 8,000-unit proposed development near the san jacinto wildlife area which would use 1.5 billion gallons of water per year and pave over habitat for sensitive species including burrowing owls, swainsons hawks, tricolored blackbirds, willow flycatchers and stephens kangaroo rats; courtroom victory leading to la county setting aside approval for tejon ranchs centennial development that proposed bringing 57,000 new residents to the fire-prone outskirts of the county; helped secure permanent protection of walt ranch, ensuring that thousands of mature oak trees would not be cut down to plant vineyards; in august 2023, a California appeals court upheld a decision by the fresno county superior court to deny the westlands water district's request to validate a contract with the u.s. bureau of reclamation that would have provided westlands with permanent access to over one million acre-feet of water for unsustainable agricultural purposes. 3. Oceans program- program service accomplishments include: lawsuits and advocacy led to policy reforms aimed at ending whale entanglements in fishing gear, a critical step towards protecting marine mammals; campaigned against the risks of offshore oil and gas activities, such as oil spills and climate change; secured endangered species act listings and habitat protections for several marine species; advocated for strong national and international policies to combat plastic pollution, including advocacy for a strong global plastics treaty. 4. Southwest program-program service accomplishments include: the designation of baaj nwaavjo itah kukveni ancestral footprints of the grand canyon national monument; litigated to block utahs challenge to the re-designation of the bears ears and grand staircase-escalante national monuments and an attempt to limit a centers lawsuit challenging the i-11 freeway in Arizona; required agencies to set new pollution limits for queen creek; organized project to block the illegal construction of a shipping container wall across seven miles of jaguar, ocelot, and stream habitat on the u.s. border; forced the dept of homeland security to avert plans to build a road through the largest remaining population of endangered zapata bladderpod wildflower in Texas. 5. Population & sustainability program-program service accomplishments include: released publications that explored health care services on college campuses; the impact of fast fashion on the environment and the use of harmful materials across top brands; u.s. perceptions of holiday consumerism and alternative economies; and the connection between diet, public health and climate resilience; hosted campus film screenings, a webinar series about reproductive and environmental health; our fourth annual food justice film festival. 6. Energy justice program-program service accomplishments include: mobilized 75,000 people in the march to end fossil fuels; as a result, won a five-year campaign to get countries to the historical global climate agreement to transition off fossil fuels at cop28 in dubai; challenged fema on billons of dollars it invested in doubling down on fossil fuels in puerto rico; and challenged tva (largest federal public utility company in us) to adapt a 100% renewable energy by 2035 plan; litigated against the utility for its gas expansion. 7. international program-program service accomplishments include: sought u.s. trade protections for numerous species threatened by the pet trade (banggai cardinalfish and several freshwater fish from southeast asia; filed litigation seeking deadlines for protections for several lizards; worked under several treaties to garner international pressure on the mexican government to enforce it own wildlife laws to protect sea turtles and vaquita; issued a report on how the u.s. can and should use its embargo power to pressure other nations to restrict bycatch of marine mammals around the globe; advocated under the world heritage and special protected areas and wildlife treaty for increased protections for wildlife and wild places in the caribbean, brazil and mexico. 8. Carnivore conservation program-program service accomplishments include: protections for ecologically important carnivores by, for example, securing a deadline for the u.s. Fish and wildlife service to draft a nationwide recovery plan for gray wolves and obtaining an endangered species act listing for wolverine; stopping or restricting numerous states or federal practices that harm animals, for example, trapping that harms canada lynx in Minnesota, placement of cyanide bombs on land managed by the bureau of land management, and logging projects that harm grizzly bears in the northern rockies; after a decades long campaign to reintroduce wolves to Colorado, the state agency finally released wolves in december. 9. The Center had program service accomplishments in other programs including: Florida and the caribbean, the great basin, northern and southern rockies, the southeast, and Hawaii.