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North America Policy Resources

Conservation policy in North America is a vast and very dynamic field.  At SCB we aim to assist our members in gaining access to information and resources on any issues that are of concern to them from a policy perspective.  On this page, we will catalogue numerous links to helpful external websites, reports from the public and private sectors, government policy statements, and other documents that are of particular relevance to the NAPP's three priority areas.  Of course these three topics are by no means the only important policy issues for conservation biologists.  If you are interested in policy recources related to other topics, please contact us and we will do our best to assist you in getting access to the information you need.

We've also provided what we hope is a useful Overview of the US Government, to help members understand the various inflection points where meaningful policy interventions can be made.  Likewise, if you are concerned about how best to become involved in a policy issue, or if you should at all, we have linked to some great articles discussing the ongoing debate around the role of scientists in policy making.  If you'd like to become involved in policy making either through SCB or independently, you can learn more about the process on our "get involved in policy" page.

This page is is underconstruction but we will have it up and running very soon, so please check back!


Policy Resources on Energy Development and Biodiversity Conservation

SCB Requests Additional Research on the Impacts of Fracking on Biodiversity - Official Letter

Assessment Of Shale Gas Fracking On Biodiversity

Center for Biological Diversity - Fracking


Policy Resources on Endangered Species and Scientific Integrity

SCB and Scientific Integrity

Scientific Integrity at the Department of Interior

ESA and Scientific Integrity - Endangered Species Coalition


Policy Resources on Climate Change and its Effects on Biodiversity

The President's Climate Action Plan

National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy

International Union for Conservation of Nature - Climate Change Adaptation

NASA - Responding to Climate Change

Department of Interior Climate Change Strategy

 


An overview of the US Government

For SCB and its members to be effective and efficient with their interventions in the realm of domestic U.S. policy, it is important to have a basic understanding of the structure of the U.S. Government, the budget process for funding the U.S. Government, and the legal limits on the type and how much lobbying SCB is permitted to do with respect to certain types of policy issues.  For that reason we have developed a helpful primer on these three topics. It can be found HERE.