A coalition of conservation organizations and biologists filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2022 determination that listing of the Sonoran desert tortoise as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act was not warranted. The plaintiffs alleged that the determination was not consistent with previous findings from 2010 to 2014, that it conflicted with best available science, and that it “downplay[ed] the significant threat from climate change, including severe drought conditions in Arizona which are likely to result in alarming population declines (likely exceeding 80% of the entire population) in the foreseeable future.” The complaint also alleged that the determination overlooked cumulative threats from climate change and other factors including habitat loss from development, and relied on nonbinding voluntary conservation measures.

Challenge to the the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2022 determination that listing of the Sonoran desert tortoise as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act was not warranted.

Desert Tortoise Council v. Burgum

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Plaintiffs Cited Climate Change Threats to Sonoran Desert Tortoise in Lawsuit Challenging Decision Not to List Species Under Endangered Species Act

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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.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

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

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

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.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

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.

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

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

Plaintiffs Cited Climate Change Threats to Sonoran Desert Tortoise in Lawsuit Challenging Decision Not to List Species Under Endangered Species Act

Policy instrument

Risk

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Economic sector