Biodiversity activists are offering to pay ‘conservation advocates’ $75 to promote 50% conservation of total land area by 2050 at state-sponsored forum
By Michael Bielawski
The biodiversity/climate activist group Stand Trees is offering to pay $75 to people who will speak in favor of “30 x 30,” the U.N./State of Vermont plan to conserve from development 30% of all land area by 2030, at an upcoming focus group sponsored by the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board.
Standing Trees, founded in 2020 by Zack Porter and other volunteers, follows the teaching of late biologist E.O. Wilson, who taught that “Earth Needs Half” – i.e., that in the interest of biodiversity, humanity should “set aside roughly half of Earth’s land and seas for nature,” its website says.
Also promoting the 30×30 effort, including the focus group, is Nature for Justice, a well-funded international climate group whose “Managing Director, U.SA.” is Burlington City Councilor Zorah Hightower. Its logo appears alongside that of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources on a Standing Trees flyer outlining how and why to participate.
The focus group is part of the planning process for Act 59, the Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act, sponsored by Vermont House Environment and Energy Chair Amy Sheldon, and passed last year by the Vermont Legislature. Citing United Nations findings about species extinction in its opening paragraphs. The law states: “It is the goal of the State that 30 percent of Vermont’s total land area shall be conserved by 2030, and 50 percent of the State’s total land area shall be conserved by 2050. The Secretary of Natural Resources shall lead the effort in achieving these goals. The land conserved shall include State, federal, municipal, and private land.”
The law mandates a statewide Conservation Plan to meet the 30 x 30 and 50 x 50 goals, and allocates $75,000 for “public education and outreach to inform the development of the statewide conservation plan.” Part of the conservation planning process is a ‘conservation advocates focus group’ on either April 8 or April 3 (the paragraph below says April 8, but the registration link says April 3, VDC is seeking clarity.) The following is excerpted from a Standing Trees newsletter:
“Tuesday, April 8th, 6:30 pm: Vermont Act 59 (30×30/50×50) “Conservation Advocates Focus Group.” Now is your chance to weigh in on the upcoming inventory and conservation planning process that will help Vermont strive towards conserving 30% of its landscape by 2030, and put at least 10% of the state’s forests and wetlands on track to grow old. Participants can be compensated $75. Learn more with this fact sheet and register here.”
It is unclear which organization – the state-run VHCB, or Standing Trees, or perhaps another not-for-profit like Nature for Justice – is the primary funding source for the focus group participation. Act 59 allocates a public education/outreach budget. Standing Trees does have a well-known funder of Vermont environmental causes listed as an advisor: Crea Lintilhac, director of the Lintilhac Foundation. According to her Standing Trees bio, she serves on the Boards of Advisors of the UVM Rubenstein School of Natural Resources, “serves as an officer and trustee of environmental advocacy boards in Vermont including VPIRGEF and VTDigger.”
The UN’s “2050 Vision” for “all policies and sectors”
The notion of a “30 by 30” plan is detailed by the United Nations. The UN’s 2022 Convention on Biological Diversity document details “The Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.”
The document lists dozens of initiatives for activists to follow. Efforts should be “designed to be useful and relevant to all biodiversity-related conventions, agreements and processes, as well as other related agreements, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.”
Equity is referenced 17 times, as well as a “Gender Plan of Action.” One section called the “2050 Vision and 2030 Mission” states that “These mechanisms are aligned with, as appropriate, the planning, monitoring, reporting and review processes under the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols, other relevant multilateral conventions and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as the Gender Plan of Action.”
The document implies a climate-focused economy for “all public and private” sectors. It states, “To this end it is necessary to redirect resources harmful to biodiversity to nature-positive activities; align all public and private financial flows with the biodiversity objectives; generate new resources from all sources, private and public, domestic and international…”
It continues that “all policies and sectors” need to be climate-focused.
Burlington City Councilor involved?
Burlington City Councilor Zoraya Hightower is working with a group called Nature For Justice (N4J), which is promoting the Vermont 30×30 and 50×50 Conservation Plan.
According to her N4J bio, Hightower has worked on environmental and social justice issues for over ten years – from renewable energy finance in Kosovo and fishery sustainability in the Philippines to curtailing no-cause evictions in Vermont. Zoraya also works as an equity consultant with the Creative Discourse Group and serves on the Burlington Vermont City Council after winning a seat as the first woman of color in 2020.
Paying for testimony legal/ethical?
The notion that paying a person for testimony may present ethical and legal concerns has mostly been studied in court settings. The Bar Association of San Francisco has written on the subject.
They suggest that paying for testimony is a concerning trend. Still, sometimes it can be justified if for example the witness is an expert in a field of study and they need extra preparation to testify.
Nonetheless, they write, “A primary concern is that payment could induce alteration or falsification of evidence to mislead the judge or jury.”
McGuireWoods, a law firm that specializes in legal advice for companies, provides a similar assessment. They write, “The ethics rules clearly prohibit paying money in return for favorable testimony,” regarding a court setting.
The invite to the public forum does not specify that those compensated should have any extra expertise, they just need to be willing to testify. It states, “If you would like to receive compensation for your participation, please provide your mailing address.”
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
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