SACRAMENTO — California will enlist its natural resources in the state’s fight against climate change by establishing new land conservation and carbon sequestration goals over the next decade.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday setting a target to conserve 30% of the state’s land and coastal waters by 2030 — joining dozens of nations in a global pact to preserve biodiversity and prevent species loss.
Visiting a walnut orchard in the Yolo County town of Winters, Newsom said the order would serve “our collective goal of future-proofing the state of California, of making the state more resistant and resilient to the realities of climate change.”
World leaders have been committing to protect 30% of their land and seas ahead of a United Nations summit on biodiversity in China next spring. The United Kingdom and Canada signed onto the pledge last week, following the European Union.
California officials estimate that about 22% of the state — 23.1 million acres — is already protected, either to prevent wild ecosystems from disappearing or to ensure sustainable use of natural resources. The vast majority of that land is managed by the federal government, while the rest is under state, local or private control. California would need to conserve another 8.4 million acres over the next decade to meet the goal Newsom set.
About 16% of state waters are in marine protected areas, according to the California Ocean Protection Council.
Newsom’s order also directs his administration to take steps to streamline approval of land restoration projects, protect native plants and animals from invasive species and reinvigorate the population of pollinating insects in California.
Most significantly, several agencies will develop policies to capture more carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the state’s natural and working lands such as forests, rangeland, farms, wetlands and coasts. These strategies, intended to help California reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2045, could include planting cover crops, restoring wetlands, managing forests more actively to reduce wildfire risk, and planting trees and creating parks in urban areas.
Newsom said his desire to conserve more of the state’s ecosystems was influenced by his grandfather’s work protecting mountain lions and by his childhood pet, a river otter named Potter. He said he would consult with farmers, ranchers, hunters and fishers to ensure the order does not interfere with agriculture and recreation.
“It’s not about a scarcity mind-set. It’s not about taking something away,” he said. “It’s about an inclusive, abundant mind-set.”
A bill to set a goal of protecting at least 30% of California’s land and waters by 2030 passed the state Assembly this summer but was held in the Senate amid opposition from the building industry, commercial fishing groups and outdoor recreation advocates.
The Senate Republican Caucus called Newsom’s order Wednesday an “overreach” and tweeted, “We remember a time when Democrats were worried about (President) Trump being an authoritarian.”
This is the second climate-related executive order that the governor has issued in recent weeks. Last month, Newsom signed an order to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles in California by 2035, an effort to tackle the transportation-related emissions that now account for the largest portion of planet-warming greenhouse gases in the state.
That earned Newsom a rebuke from Andrew Wheeler, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator, who sent a letter to the governor questioning the legality and feasibility of California limiting new car sales to only zero-emission vehicles.
Newsom also recently called for the Legislature to pass a ban on the oil and gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves injecting fluid at high pressure into the ground to loosen natural gas or oil deposits. Environmentalists have long criticized the practice for polluting local water sources and emitting greenhouse gases such as methane, and several lawmakers said they plan to introduce a bill this fall to ban it.
Several environmental groups criticized Newsom again Wednesday for not using his executive authority to limit oil and gas production.
“In California we risk losing the iconic Joshua tree of the Mojave Desert, coastal shorebirds like the snowy plover that get crowded out by rising seas, and alpine species like pikas that can’t survive on warming mountaintops,” Shaye Wolf, climate science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Protecting our beautiful range of lifeforms on land, in the air and at sea requires also keeping fossil fuels in the ground.”
Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: firstname.lastname@example.org Twitter: @akoseff