State-level biodiversity programs in California
Throughout 2025, I provided four Pando blogs focusing on biodiversity issues: how Pando supports L.A.’s biodiversity, international biodiversity policies and programs, national biodiversity research and policy in the United States, and “best practice” biodiversity programs in major biometropolises. As issues of biodiversity have continued to evolve in what I’ve coined as the Los Angeles biometropolis*, programs have emerged in the city and county of Los Angeles as well as their surrounding areas. Naturally, this topic has become an increasing focus for Pando as well.
In this blog, we’ll look more closely at what exactly is being done regarding biodiversity in the entire state of California. The next blog in this series will examine biodiversity work at the city and county level in the Los Angeles biometropolis. Finally, later in the year, there will be announcements regarding a new Biodiversity Planning in Metropolitan Los Angeles e-book, and a special biodiversity spotlight to be included in the 2026-27 Pando Days program.
As a non-Californian, I am in awe at the large portfolio of major, statewide biodiversity endeavors in California. But as a career city and regional planner, I’m also aware of the mixed blessing of large numbers of separate programs. With each additional program, the complexities of awareness and coordination become ever greater, leading to increased possibilities of forgetfulness, obsolescence, redundancy, and/or mixed signals among the myriad items in the total collection of programs. We will consider such issues more deeply in our next blog. For the rest of this blog, though, let’s take a look at what I regard as the nine most significant statewide biodiversity programs in California since biodiversity emerged as a global issue in the early 1990s.
1991: Natural Community Conservation Planning Act (Assembly Bill 2172): Provided for “the regional or areawide protection and perpetuation of natural wildlife diversity, while allowing compatible and appropriate development and growth.” Thus far in California’s Southland, most projects funded by this program have been located in San Diego County. See here.
2003: Atlas of the Biodiversity of California (First Edition): Published by the State’s Department of Fish and Game, this atlas defines biodiversity, discusses and depicts its geographic locations, proposes ways to measure it, and describes samples of and pressures on biodiversity. Finally, it suggests ways to sustain biodiversity in California. An updated second edition was released in 2021. Both editions focus their attention on areas well away from urban and agricultural areas. See here.
2010: California Essential Habitat Connectivity Project: As its name suggests, this project of the California Department of Transportation and the Department of Fish and Game tackles the issues of ensuring corridors supporting the natural movement of wildlife. See here.
2018: California Biodiversity Initiative: This was launched by California Governor Jerry Brown with a goal to secure the future of the state’s biodiversity and to integrate biodiversity protection into the state’s environmental and economic goals and efforts. It also included the launch of an annual California Biodiversity Day to be celebrated on September 7th of every year. See here.
2020: California Global Biodiversity Alliance: A California-based network of state agency representatives, elected officials, NGOs, academic and community and environmental justice groups advocating for strong participation in and implementation of the UN
Convention on Biological Diversity and its Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. See here.
2020: 30×30 Executive Order: Issued by California Governor Gavin Newsom to establish a goal of conserving at least 30 percent of California’s land and coastal waters by 2030, a goal promoted globally by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. See here.
2022: California Biodiversity Network: A network of academic institutions, NGOs, government agencies, and private entities with expertise in conservation science and practice participating in topical roundtables and working groups. See here.
2022: City and County Open-Space Plan Updates: Senate Bill 1425, signed by Governor Newsom, originally required a review and update of each city and county open space plan by January 1, 2026. The updates will need to address biodiversity issues that may have been absent previously. The original deadline has since been extended. See here.
2024: Room to Roam Act: Assembly Bill 1889, signed by Governor Newsom. Sets standards for items to be included in city and county conservation elements upon the next update of one or more general plan elements on or after January 1, 2028. Items in the conservation element update need to address issues of linkages, corridors, and other locations essential to maintain wildlife landscape connectivity. See here.
There is a saying that all politics is local. That means that all policy is local too, including the myriad policies embedded in the above set of nine key biodiversity programs in California. In our next blog, we’ll drill down to the local level throughout biometropolitan Los Angeles and its five-county context. That survey will set the stage for the recommendations regarding future regionwide biodiversity planning and programming that will appear in the new Biodiversity Planning in Metropolitan Los Angeles e-book scheduled to come out later this year.
*A biometropolis is the region anchored in the human metropolis, but extending into surrounding areas rich with endemic plants and animals.