{"id":19126,"date":"2022-10-24T18:29:01","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T18:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=19126"},"modified":"2022-10-25T14:24:17","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T14:24:17","slug":"esa-policy-news-october-24-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2022\/10\/24\/esa-policy-news-october-24-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"ESA Policy News: October 24, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this issue:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Apply for the 2023 Katherine S. McArthur Graduate Student Policy Award<\/a><\/strong>
\nApplications are due January 1, 2023.<\/p>\n

Call for climate and biodiversity experts to interact with the media<\/a><\/strong>
\nESA seeks members willing to speak to the media ahead of international climate and biodiversity meetings.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/a><\/strong>
\nSenate considering annual defense policy bill, which includes authorizes funding for tropical forest and coral reef conservation.<\/p>\n

Executive Branch<\/strong><\/a>
\nPresident Biden designates a new national monument.<\/p>\n

States<\/strong><\/a>
\nAlaska state agency cancels red king crab and snow crab seasons amid massive population declines.<\/p>\n

International<\/strong><\/a>
\nIPBES seeks experts to participate in the business and biodiversity assessment.<\/p>\n

Scientific Community<\/strong><\/a>
\nPlant ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer and ornithologist Joseph Drew Lanham are among this years\u2019 \u201cgenius\u201d grant recipients.<\/p>\n

Federal Register opportunities<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Apply for the 2023 Katherine S. McArthur Graduate Student Policy Award<\/h2>\n

Are you a science graduate student interested in the intersection between policy and science? ESA invites you to apply for the 2023 Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA). Apply and come to DC to meet with your lawmaker on Capitol Hill!<\/p>\n

Offered each year, this award gives graduate students hands-on training and science policy experience including interacting with congressional decision-makers, federal agency officials, and ecologists who work in the science and public policy arena. ESA covers all travel expenses and plans to hold the event onsite at its Washington, DC office Tuesday, April 24-25 unless events beyond our control occur. Applications are due Jan. 1, 2023, 12PM EDT.<\/p>\n

For more information and to apply, visit the ESA website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Call for climate and biodiversity experts to interact with the media<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If you are interested in being featured in media advisories and serving as an expert for journalists writing about COP 27 or COP15, please complete this form<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties, or COP27, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in November 2022, ESA seeks ecological experts to include in a media advisory highlighting our members\u2019 expertise in climate change and biodiversity.<\/p>\n

Additionally, we will be issuing the same advisory for\u00a0the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, or COP 15, being held in December in Montreal.<\/p>\n

ESA members who are contacted as result of this media advisory would be speaking on their own behalf as a subject matter expert and would not be speaking on behalf of ESA.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Congress<\/h2>\n

Senate: <\/strong>Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI) and Ranking Member Jim Inhofe (R-OK) brought the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act to the floor. This annual must-pass bill sets defense policy for the next year and typically contains environmental provisions of interest. The manager\u2019s bill package from Reed and Inhofe includes language from Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) reauthorizing the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000. The language establishes a U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and requires the federal government to create a new national coral reef resilience strategy and new coral reef action plans. Another amendment from Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) reauthorizes the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Act through FY 2027 and authorizes $20 million a year for the program. This law provides loan forgiveness for developing countries that meet specific benchmarks and agree to contribute to tropical forest and coral reef conservation.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Executive Branch<\/h2>\n

White House:<\/strong> President Joe Biden designated<\/a> 53,800 acres in Colorado as Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument, protecting a historic World War II training site as well as habitat for Canada lynx, boreal toad, cutthroat trout, Rocky Mountain elk and more. This is Biden\u2019s first time designating a National Monument, as permitted under the Antiquities Act. Biden also proposed withdrawing 225,000 acres nearby from new mining or drilling. The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management plan to accept public comments on this withdrawal proposal once it is posted on the Federal Register.<\/p>\n

White House:<\/strong> The US Global Change Research Program and the fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) have announced a\u00a0call for art<\/a>. Selected art submissions will be featured in NCA5, which will be used by hundreds of thousands of people across the country and around the world. The NCA5 is looking for visual art that aligns with the chapters and themes of NCA5. The goal is to depict climate change in ways that resonate with readers, connecting climate science with the lived experiences of the American people.<\/p>\n

The White House announced two calls for art \u2013 one for adults and one for youth. The two concurrent calls for art will be open through January 27, 2023, to align with an upcoming public comment period on the draft report. More information about this call for art and the upcoming public comment period on the draft report can be found at\u00a0globalchange.gov\/nca5<\/a>.<\/p>\n

White House:<\/strong> The President\u2019s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) will meet Nov 9, 2022. The meeting will cover two topics \u2013 cyber resilience and the economic impacts of extreme weather. Additional information and the meeting agenda will be posted on the PCAST website.<\/a><\/p>\n

White House:<\/strong> The National Climate Task Force convened<\/a> Oct. 17. Topics included a briefing from Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry about the upcoming COP27 climate conference in Egypt, updates about the administration\u2019s environmental justice work from Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory and discussion of how the administration will implement the Inflation Reduction Act.<\/p>\n

White House: <\/strong>The Biden administration released a new national biodefense strategy and implementation plan<\/a> to prevent future pandemics and address other biological threats. The plan endorses a One Health approach to human, animal and ecosystem health, noting that 75 percent of new and emerging diseases that threatened human health originate from animals. The report also recommends strengthening laboratory biosafety and biosecurity, maintaining a strong science and technology base and improving domestic and international public health infrastructure.<\/p>\n

NSF<\/strong>: The agency issued<\/a> a solicitation for a new multidisciplinary, world-class educational center at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico that aims to serve as a hub for STEM education and outreach. The goals of this center would be to promote STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, support applied STEM and STEM education research and to build and leverage new and existing collaborations and partnerships.<\/p>\n

The decision means that NSF opts not to rebuild the telescope dish at the Arecibo Observatory, which was destroyed in late 2020. Smaller telescopes and facilities at the Arecibo site remain in use and could be incorporated into the educational center.<\/p>\n

This announcement is consistent with a provision in the CHIPS and Science Act which encourages NSF to strengthen and expand the role of Arecibo Observatory. Full proposals are due by the end of February 2023. The center is expected to open in 2023.<\/p>\n

NSF:<\/strong> The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics released the data tables<\/a> for the 2021 Survey of Earned Doctorates. The data shows that the number of doctorates awarded in 2021 dropped by 5.4%% from 2020 levels, the biggest decrease recorded since NSF started tracking this information in 1958. The number of doctorates awarded in the life sciences decreased by 5.8% from 12,549 in 2020 to 11,814 in 2021.<\/p>\n

Another key finding is that the number of new Ph.Ds with definite commitments for either work or postdoctoral training increased to 70%, from 62% in 2016 \u2014 the last time NSF reported these numbers. Similarly, the number of life sciences Ph.D. with no definite commitment post-graduation decreased from 40.4% in 2016 to 30.2% in 2021.<\/p>\n

NSF will release a report about the data in early December 2022.<\/p>\n

More News:<\/u><\/p>\n