Widely considered a top contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) cemented his status as an environmentalist when he made the largest investment ever in the Everglades this month.
Throughout his tenure as governor, DeSantis has routinely made environmental protection a cornerstone of his agenda. From expanding Florida’s wildlife corridor to vetoing an anti-rooftop solar bill , he’s been a consistent and steady advocate of the Sunshine State’s natural resources. While his office doesn’t typically brand these actions as for the “climate,” DeSantis might just have one of the best climate records of his peers.
After all, the Everglades is a treasure trove of carbon sequestration potential. In fact, the mangrove forests that cover the marshy shores of the Everglades and the carbon they store are worth billions of dollars, according to a study funded by the National Science Foundation. The peat in the Everglades’s soil also has significant carbon storage potential, making investing in this iconic Floridian ecosystem a no-brainer.
Restoring and conserving ecosystems such as the Everglades has long been branded climate action, as I wrote with the Everglades Foundation’s Steve Davis in 2021. Otherwise known as “natural climate solutions,” conservation practices that increase nature’s carbon storage capability are popular not only among Republicans such as DeSantis but also the public in general. Organizations such as Ducks Unlimited and the Nature Conservancy have engaged in ecosystem restoration projects for decades to ensure that our natural spaces are healthy and contributing to emissions reductions.
In 2020, the Pew Research Center found that 90% of people support planting a trillion trees to store carbon, and after the 2022 midterm elections, my organization found that natural climate solutions were seen as the second most effective climate solution, behind renewable energy. It’s no wonder that this brand of climate action is so popular. Natural climate solutions are some of the most cost-effective climate solutions, and they can be put into action right now. They also empower on-the-ground stakeholders, from farmers and ranchers to private landowners and recreationists.
While state policy such as that in Florida is important, natural climate solutions should also be a priority for Congress. From investing in blue carbon research to understand the potential of ecosystems such as the Everglades to legislation that incentivizes reforestation and proper forest management, Congress has a prime opportunity to work in a bipartisan manner to fight climate change with nature.
Last Congress, legislation such as the Growing Climate Solutions Act and Save Our Sequoias Act highlighted how bipartisan this policy area really is, and this theme can and should be carried into the new Congress. Not only is it what the people want, but it’s also effective policy that will result in real emissions reduced.
DeSantis’s recent action should serve as an example to those who want to act on climate change. Congress should follow in his footsteps.
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