Water News

Stopping the Harms: Newsom Undermines His Own 30×30 Goals

March 21, 2024

CATEGORY: Water Issue 2024

By Mahtisa Djahangiri

What is 30×30?

30×30 is the global movement to protect 30% of our planet’s land and water by 2030 as a stepping stone toward protecting at least half of the Earth by 2050. 30×30 aims to protect and restore biodiversity, expand access to nature, and mitigate and build resilience to climate change in order to ensure a liveable climate for all.

Here in California, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order (EO) N-82-20 which in 2020 made California the first state in the US to commit to the 30×30 goal. The EO also called for a Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy, and improving access to nature and its benefits for all Californians along with co-stewardship by Tribes. In 2023, SB 337 (Min) codified 30×30 into law. With the state committed to, and leading the way on 30×30, it is imperative that we hold our elected officials and state agencies accountable to creating a political and regulatory environment that is conducive to achieving the goal. This includes stopping projects, policies and practices that pose barriers to climate resilience, the protection of biodiversity, and the well being of people.

The Delta Conveyance (Tunnel) is at Odds with 30×30

Supporting the Delta Tunnel Project is directly at odds with 30×30. Yet the Newsom administration supports both. We cannot truly achieve 30×30 as codified by SB 337, if we continue to allow projects that directly undermine the statute’s goals and strategy laid out in the California Natural Resources Agency “Pathways to 30×30” (“Pathways”).

California’s water rights and management system have allowed for the exploitation of limited water resources through the diversion of bodies of water and the depletion of groundwater reserves. Water diversions have allowed for the depletion of surface water from natural bodies in favor of industrial agriculture strictly for profit and excessive water diversions to create more sprawl, to the detriment of ecosystems and habitats.

According to the Pathways strategy “Intact and restored terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal ecosystems remove and store carbon from the atmosphere, safeguard important resources such as clean water, and can protect people and nature from the impacts of climate change like flooding and extreme heat.” (Page 43). The Bay-Delta Tunnel aka Delta Conveyance will prevent the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary (Bay-Delta) from functioning as the vital, life sustaining support system as it should naturally.

The Bay- Delta is a critical water system that provides drinking water for more than two-thirds of California residents, sustains millions of acres of agriculture, and is an important habitat for more than 750 species of animals and plants.”^[i]^,[ii] Despite its critical role in the state’s ecosystems, it faces major water diversions from the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, among several other water pumping plants and smaller agricultural water diversions.^[iii] Only about 38% of Bay-Delta water is assigned to the environment, and only one-third of this 38% goes to the protection of fish and wildlife.^[iv] In periods of drought, this water allocation to the environment is lowered to sustain agriculture. In 2021, 85% of runoff from the Delta watershed was used upstream, 15% was used within the Delta, and none was used for water management and environmental conservation.^[v]

As a result of water diversions, the Bay-Delta has experienced an array of environmental issues. Excessive water diversions impact the quality and quantity of water in these systems, which ultimately affects its plant and fish species.^[vi] The Bay-Delta has seen devastating ecosystem decline and habitat destruction, the introduction of non-native invasive species, and water pollution as a result of water diversions and its damaging infrastructure components, like dams, canals, and pipelines.^[vii] Considering that 90% of the state’s more than 900 endemic freshwater species are vulnerable to extinction, California’s freshwater biodiversity health depends on the healthy flows and habitat complexity in the Bay-Delta.^[viii] Among the aquatic animals threatened by the Bay-Delta’s excessive water diversions and ecosystem decline are the endangered Chinook salmon, which reside in the Sacramento River, as well as the Delta Smelt, endemic to California’s San Francisco Estuary,^[ix] in addition to a half dozen species that face extinction.^[x]^[xi]

Not only does water diversion impact natural habitats and ecosystems, but it also has health and cultural impacts on humans. Tribal communities that rely on the Bay-Delta ecosystems include the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, among other Tribes. They have long criticized the state for its oppressive water rights system, which gives “preferential treatment to large agricultural interests.”^[xii] California’s oppression of its Native people has led to the decline of the Delta and its ecosystems. As “every part of [the Tribes’] culture is embedded in the watershed,” the Delta’s deterioration has impacted their ability to perform cultural and religious practices and impaired their ability to exercise sacred traditions centered on now-endangered species, like the Chinook salmon.^[xiii] A coalition of Tribes and allies have filed a number of complaints and petitions against the State Water Resources Control Board for its discriminatory water management practices and failure to protect the Bay-Delta’s water quality. “The fact is salmon and salmon-dependent people face an unprecedented crisis. Operating river flows under Trump’s water plan and California’s archaic water laws during the last drought caused the loss of the majority of our remaining salmon and it impacted California’s drinking water quality.” explained Regina Chichizola from Save California Salmon. Chichizola said that as a result commercial fishing is shut down nearly every year, Tribes cannot access salmon; and the Delta, where many Californians get their drinking water, is facing a water quality crisis. “We really do appreciate the important restoration actions outlined in Newsom’s Plan, but we also need the Governor to ask California’s agriculture industry to do their part by not polluting and dewatering our rivers and the Delta”

Tribes and allies have also worked to remove obsolete dams along the state to restore healthy flows along rivers.^[xiv] After decades of activism, one recent victory for Tribal communities is the Klamath Dam Removal. This dam removal is anticipated to restore healthy water flow in ecosystems, decrease algal blooms, and restore the population of native fish species.^[xv]

Moreover, the Pathways strategy states “Inextricably tied to all 30×30 Conserved Areas are the waters that sustain them. Freshwater systems, including riparian areas, lakes, wetlands, and marshes, are intrinsic parts of our lands, and form vital connections between our lands and coastal waters.” (page 27).

What can you do?

Transforming the state’s management of water systems is essential for achieving 30×30 goals. Improving and maintaining California’s water resources is absolutely critical in order for California’s biodiversity and ecosystems to thrive.

30×30 presents a critical opportunity for the state to protect its unique biodiversity, including water sources and freshwater ecosystems. However, the Pathways strategy fails to include the metrics and important methods for conserving these resources, including establishing protective designations such as Outstanding National Resource Waters (ONRW) designations, designations forTribal beneficial uses, and standards for instream flow water quality.^[xvi] It should also include strategies for watershed and floodplain restoration and reconnection, including the restoration of streams and the removal of outdated dams. 30×30 water resource conservation and restoration strategies should also apply Traditional Ecological Knowledge and support tribal management or co-management of water resources. Despite the shortcomings of the Pathways report, or perhaps because of these shortcomings, activists can play a crucial role in advocating for the transformation of California’s water management system.

The 30×30 movement is about more than just conserving acres of land and bodies of water. It is redefining how society relates to the natural world by shifting the paradigm of conservation to restore our interdependence with it, and address the social impacts of the climate and biodiversity crises. By protecting ecosystems and wildlife, we are also protecting the health, well being, and the future of our communities. Reaching 30×30 will require reversing the climate and biodiversity crises together, as well as stopping the harmful practices and policies that continue to undermine our commitments and progress.

Mahtisa is a Sierra Club CA staffer working on the 30 x 30 campaign.

Photos by Charming

^[i] https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/09/california-delta-bay-plan/

^[ii] https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Bay-Delta

^[iii] https://escholarship.org/content/qt89k39485/qt89k39485.pdf

^[iv] https://www.ppic.org/publication/water-use-in-californias-environment/

^[v] https://www.ppic.org/publication/priorities-for-californias-water/

^[vi] https://escholarship.org/content/qt89k39485/qt89k39485.pdf

^[vii] https://calmatters.org/explainers/water-policy-explained-california-delta-reservoir-water-conservation/

^[viii] https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.2573?af=R

^[ix] https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Fishes/Delta-Smelt

^[x]https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-02-13/climate-systemic-inequity-drive-california-water-law-reforms