During the recent Mid-Atlantic U.S. Global Leadership Coalition event hosted by Delaware’s Sen. Chris Coons, the global issues became local. Speaker after speaker, including Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, discussed how changes in the climate, environment, economic development and food policy abroad impact us at home.
Among a group of remarkable speakers, Mary Maker, a former Sudanese refugee who graduated from college in 2023, and who serves as a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador, provided a unique perspective. Maker captivated the audience as she declared, “a hungry world is an unstable world,” sharing her childhood experience in a refugee camp and the impact of violent conflict on food production and regional stability. Despite these challenges, she also emphasized the importance of hope and highlighted her story as one of positive change, even in the most desperate circumstances.
As a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Coons has made it a personal mission to build hope and address the interconnected challenges we face not only at home but across the globe—the decline in our natural world and accelerated loss of species, climate change and the conflicts they exacerbate. Left unaddressed, these threats can severely undermine the world and the U.S. by weakening global food systems, damaging our lands and waters, and potentially creating large populations of climate refugees. The U.S. government, with the support of public and private partners like The Nature Conservancy, or TNC, is uniquely positioned to provide urgent and comprehensive steps for the planet to become more sustainable, address the ever-growing loss of plant and wildlife species and the challenges caused by climate change and increase opportunities for human communities to recover and thrive.
To assist in this work, TNC is advocating in Congress under Coons’ leadership for the bipartisan U.S. Foundation for International Conservation Act to establish a conservation foundation that would leverage government, private sector, and philanthropic funding to support local communities and Indigenous Peoples around the world in effectively managing protected and conserved areas by investing up to $100 million annually. The U.S. would incentivize philanthropic and private giving to match government funds by investing new and additional resources that would complement traditional U.S. foreign assistance to biodiversity conservation. Combined, this would provide consistent funding for protected areas globally and ensure the long-term protection of these critical landscapes and habitats. Such stability also benefits global security by using conservation work to stimulate economic growth by providing jobs, skills training and local revenue.
The key goal of Coons and the foundation is to prioritize support for countries committed to good governance, sustainable development of resources, and enhancing global security, which aligns with America’s strategic interests. These investments can be instrumental in strengthening partnerships with developing countries and combating illicit activities such as wildlife trafficking and illegal deforestation. Together, we can turn one of today’s biggest challenges into our greatest opportunity: creating stronger environmental and food systems that go beyond sustainability and create positive growth for communities, economies and the planet.
Lori Brennan is the Executive Director for The Nature Conservancy in Delaware and Pennsylvania.