The Path to Glasgow Starts in the Forest

A sign-on letter endorsed by SOCAN

To:
The Honorable Gina McCarthy, White House National Climate Advisor
The Honorable John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate

Cc:
The Honorable Tom Vilsack, United States Secretary of Agriculture
The Honorable Deb Haaland, United States Secretary of the Interior
The Honorable Robert Bonnie, USDA Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Senior Advisor for Climate
The Honorable Ali Zaidi, White House Deputy National Climate Advisor
The Honorable Jane Lubchenco, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Deputy Director for Climate and Environment

Re: The Path to Glasgow Starts in the Forest

Date: April 12, 2021

Dear Gina McCarthy and John Kerry,

It is critically important that the United States, under President Biden, resume its role as an international leader in addressing the climate and biodiversity crises. This November, the US delegation will once again enter the world stage at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Other countries will look to us to demonstrate leadership after four years of environmental and climate setbacks. Protecting forest carbon sinks is essential to the Paris Agreement and will be a priority for leaders from around the world — providing the largest, most cost effective, natural climate solution available. There will rightly be a focus on halting deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and other tropical regions. But closer to home, it will be equally essential to demonstrate U.S. climate ambition and global leadership by henceforth protecting our own remaining mature and old-growth forests on federal lands, especially the carbon-rich, temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest and the Tongass National Forest, starting with an immediate moratorium until a permanent rule can be adopted.

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