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As we celebrate World Water Day, it’s a time to reflect on the fact that water is the most critical resource for birds and people alike. Audubon focuses on ensuring clean and reliable water is available in the places that birds need most. A key part of this strategy includes advocating for federal policies that improve water quality and conservation, ensure sufficient water is delivered to the places that birds need most, and restore degraded habitats for birds like Wood Stork, Ridgeway’s Rail, and Piping Plover.
Despite all of the challenges faced in 2020, significant progress was made to improve water policy in the United States:
Even with these great accomplishments, a number of water policy challenges remain. The Trump Administration weakened or gutted 125 key environmental laws, including a roll back of Clean Water Act protections; this roll back makes it easier to drain and destroy certain wetlands, lakes, and streams. Unfortunately, the waterbodies that birds rely on most during breeding and migration – ephemeral or short hydro-period wetlands that are wet only part of the year – are targeted specifically and are now more at risk to drainage and destruction.
With uncertainty around how federal rules and regulations will ultimately be applied, Audubon is working with many states who are developing their own policies that determine what water bodies are protected. We’re focused on highlighting the critical importance of resources like ephemeral and short hydro-period wetlands for birds.
Working with the Biden Administration and Congress, Audubon is building upon these results and responding to ongoing challenges by setting our sights on even higher goals. Renewed focus on combatting the impacts of climate change and the use of natural infrastructure will provide new opportunities for progress. Ensuring these policies promote equity, diversity, and inclusion is a strategic imperative. In every water policy position, we are looking for opportunities to support communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities that have been, or could be, disproportionately affected by policy decisions.
Here are some of the key water policy priorities Audubon is working to advance in 2021:
We now know that we’ve lost nearly three billion birds in North America over the past 50 years and two-thirds of our bird species are threatened by climate change. Natural disasters and extreme weather caused by climate change are growing more frequent - drought is more common in the West, while heavy rain events and flooding are increasing in the East. As we look ahead to advancing our water policy goals in 2021, Audubon will focus on the most important places for birds while helping to support families and communities, and combat the effects of climate change.