On Jan. 27, President Biden launched an effort to protect 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by the year 2030. It’s a big, bold goal, fitting our uniquely perilous moment. Experts say protecting an interconnected network of lands and waters will give us the best chance at curbing the worst effects of climate change; adapting to the shifts already happening; preserving wild nature amid an ongoing extinction crisis; and ensuring communities have access to clean air, water and outdoor spaces.
Below are some key facts and figures to help us wrap our minds around the challenges ahead—and also the rare opportunities now facing us.

In the contiguous U.S., more than three-quarters of communities of color live in areas with a higher proportion of natural area lost to human activities than the median level in their respective states. Communities of color are three times more likely than white communities to live in these “nature-deprived" places, resulting from policies and planning that deny decision-making power to Black people, Indigenous people and people of color. Communities of color are also disproportionately exposed to the worst impacts of climate change and pollution. Expanded efforts to protect lands and waters in the U.S. must center equity and ensure communities of color have access to wild nature.
The chart below from the Center for American Progress shows the proportion of people of color in each state who live in nature-deprived areas.
A 2018 World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report focusing on how human activity has affected wildlife found that between 1970 and 2014, there was an approximately 60 percent decline in populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians.

The report highlighted deforestation and other types of land degradation as a major driver of this trend, citing data showing only about one-quarter of land on Earth is largely free of human impacts. Protecting 30% of U.S. lands and waters—as part of the global 30x30 goal—is a critical step to shore up critical habitat, save migration corridors and stop the bleeding.
The chart below shows The Living Planet Index, an indicator of the state of global biodiversity cited by WWF. It measures the average rate of change over time across a set of species populations and shows an overall decline of 60% in the population sizes of vertebrates between 1970 and 2014--an average drop over half in less than 50 years.
read further the whole article fromthe links above