Center for Biological Diversity and Audubon Society of Portland filed a complaint in the federal district court for the District of Oregon challenging a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) decision to list the streaked horned lark as threatened rather than endangered and to issue a “special rule” under Section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act exempting agricultural activities from liability “despite known and serious impacts” on the lark. The complaint alleged that after the remand of a 2013 listing of the species as threatened, the FWS again determined the lark was currently not in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range, despite “the ongoing steep decline” in suitable habitat and other threats such as climate change, which causes sea level rise and increased severe weather events that threaten the lark’s Pacific Coast populations.

Challenge to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to list the streaked horned lark as threatened rather than endangered.

Center for Biological Diversity v. Burgum

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Groups Challenged Determination that Streaked Horned Lark Was Threatened Rather than Endangered

Filed

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

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Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Activities that involve the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fibre, and other products essential for human life and industry.

Climate change impacts our society by disrupting the natural, economic and social systems we depend on. Physical hazards and underlying vulnerabilities can lead to increased resource competition for food and water, which can heighten the risk of conflict.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

Heavy precipitation refers to any form of weather where substances fall from the sky, including rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

Groups Challenged Determination that Streaked Horned Lark Was Threatened Rather than Endangered

Risk

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance