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

Filed

United States of America

Arizona

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

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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

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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

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Economic sector

Finance