New City Council kicks off 2023 with UN biodiversity pledge

Austin’s brand-new City Council has officially begun legislating, kicking things off with an ambitious pledge to environmental stewardship.

The resolution, sponsored by Council Member Leslie Pool, commits the city to adopt 23 targets established at the UN’s 15th Convention on Biological Diversity, which Pool attended late last year. The UN framework lists managed conservation and restoration of plant and animal species across 30 percent of earth’s terrain, terrestrial and marine, by the year 2030 among its goals, and was adopted by delegates from 188 countries. City Council passed the resolution 10-1, with Council Member Mackenzie Kelly voting against.

The city of Austin has already made a number of environmental pledges, among them reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 as laid out in the 2015 Climate Equity Plan. So far, the city has invested millions tackling sustainable building methods, improving its transportation footprint, and watershed protection measures, but conservationists are hopeful the new UN framework will encourage expanded programming for more sensitive and varied habitats.

“The last scissor-tailed flycatcher disappeared from North Austin with the development of the Q2 Stadium at the McKalla site, and one can no longer hear chuck-will’s-widows (a nocturnal, insect-eating bird) calling in Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park on a summer’s night,” said Craig Nazor, the conservation chair of the Sierra Club’s Lone Star chapter. “There are a whole lot less bug splats on my car windshield as I head into the Hill Country on a spring evening. Little green herons have virtually disappeared from our urban streams. There are fewer great-horned owls hooting on cool winter nights in suburban neighborhoods, and the list goes on.”

Austin is no stranger to conservation efforts, having collaborated for decades with groups like the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve and Save Our Springs Alliance to monitor and protect federally endangered species like the golden-cheeked warbler, Barton Springs salamander and the now-delisted black-capped vireo. Still, data shows a staggering loss of wildlife populations with alarming uniformity across the continent.

“The sad reality is that American wildlife is on the decline; in 2021, 23 species were removed from the Endangered Species Act, not because they were saved, but because they’re gone,” said Desi Tsacalis, a St. Edward’s University student and Environment Texas intern. “Bird populations have declined by 3 billion in North America since 1970 – that’s more than one in four birds having disappeared from our skylines.”

The resolution passed Thursday asks staff to ramp up their response, directing the city manager to integrate the 23 biodiversity targets into the city’s five-year strategic plan, due for an update this year. Revisions to the Climate Equity Plan, Rain to River Strategic Plan, Austin Urban Forests Plan and Climate Resilience Action Plan will also be considered.

“Biodiversity is essential for our health and well-being … it plays a vital role in maintaining the balance of ecosystems, and provides a range of benefits to humans, including clean air and water, and healthy natural food,” Pool said. “While international conferences like COP15 are important, cities have the power to implement policies that can make a real difference.”

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