US President Joe Biden will mark Earth Day on Friday April 22 by ordering, during a visit to Seattle, the protection of ancient forests in the United States, considered crucial in the fight against climate change.
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The Democrat has campaigned for environmental protection and American leadership in tackling global warming but has consistently run into a lack of congressional support.
His executive order, which will be signed in the state of Washington, heavily forested and often spectacularly wild landscapes, will recognize the importance of America's ancient forests in the fight against climate change but also their vulnerability to ever more intense fires.
“US forests are a key climate solution”
Joe Biden will demand from federal officials an inventory of ancient forests within a year, as well as the identification of threats to these trees.
"
US forests are a key climate solution, absorbing an amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to 10% of annual US greenhouse gas emissions
," the White House said in a statement.
“
Federal lands are home to many mature forests and old trees, which are crucial carbon sinks, valuable landscapes and unique habitats.
However, these magnificent ecosystems are threatened by the climate changes already observed, with the intensification of forest fires which requires urgent action for their protection and the economies that depend on them.
“, continues the administration.
Throughout his tenure, Joe Biden has set himself ambitious environmental goals and he quickly reversed his predecessor Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.
However, with a slim majority in Congress, his major policy initiatives on the environment failed to materialize.
Many of Biden's advances were secured by executive orders, which do not require parliamentary approval but can be revoked by the next president.
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On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced that it would restore the obligation for federal agencies to study all the environmental consequences of the construction of major infrastructure projects, including on climate change, reversing a reform by Donald Trump.
It will play a key role in the wave of public works planned across the country, part of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that the White House managed to pass.