Joe Biden on Tuesday formalized the creation of two new American national monuments, vast protected areas located in California, strengthening his environmental legacy a few days before giving way to Donald Trump in the White House.
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These measures concern the Chuckwalla National Monument, which will cover 252,000 hectares near Joshua Tree National Park, in southern California, and that of Sattitla, located in the north of this state, on the border with Oregon.
They provide these regions with environmental safeguards to protect them against drilling, mining, photovoltaic farms and other industrial activities.
“We have carried out the boldest climate policy in history,” Joe Biden said on Tuesday during the signing ceremony at the White House. “We don’t have to choose between the environment and the economy (…), we can have both at the same time.”
Regarding Chuckwalla, this creation also follows pressure from Native American tribes historically attached to these lands.
The announcement was planned for last week in California, but was postponed due to high winds making travel in the region impossible, then relocated to Washington due to the fires in Los Angeles.
AFP
Joe Biden’s four-year term saw the creation of eight more national monuments and the expansion of four.
The 82-year-old Democrat has protected more natural areas than any other president of the United States, according to the White House.
AFP
Last week, he also signed an executive order banning offshore drilling in a huge area of coastal waters, encompassing the entire Atlantic coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as the American Pacific coast and part of the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska.
And in mid-December, his government set an ambitious new climate target as part of the historic Paris agreement, committing the United States to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 61 to 66% compared to the level of 2005 by 2035, with a view to achieving net zero by 2050.
Environmental advocates in the United States fear that the return of Mr. Trump, who promised to expand oil and gas extraction, will be marked by a further erosion of protected public lands.
