Unveiling of MA 25-year Biodiversity Conservation Goals

On Thursday, August 21, Jean Devine and Sue Butler, representing Cambridge, MA-based Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, attended Governor Maura Healy’s unveiling of the state’s 25-year Biodiversity Conservation Goals to protect and rebuild nature across Massachusetts. As the first state in the nation to set biodiversity-saving targets for 2030, 2040 and 2050, this initiative was first announced through Governor Healy’s executive order to protect biodiversity signed in Sept. 2023. (See our previous blog post on this topic). The four goals of Protect, Restore, Sustain, and Connect, and related action items, were crafted by a working group of state agencies, municipalities, Tribes and community partners led by the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game.

The ceremony took place at Mass. Audubon’s Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary in Barnstable, MA where the Governor also announced that Mass Audubon is the first of hopefully many partners in the Massachusetts Biodiversity Partnership. At the ceremony, Mass Audubon President and CEO David O’Neill committed $5 million to “support the state’s ’30 by 30’ goal of safeguarding 30 percent the state’s natural areas by 2030.”