Sierra Club Celebrates New Federal Committee Promoting Equity in Nature

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Sierra Club celebrates with the White House the signing of the “United States Government Interagency Memorandum of Understanding on Promoting Equitable Access to Nature in Nature-Deprived Communities” by 10 Federal departments and agencies. It’s an important acknowledgement of the need to prioritize communities that have long been locked out of the benefits that nature can provide to us. 

The goal of this memorandum is to strengthen and sustain the ability of the involved agencies to support locally led conservation projects and expand access to green spaces for the communities that need them most. Affected programs could include the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership and Urban Waters Federal Partnership. The participating agencies will also form the Nature in Communities Committee to collaborate on this goal.

In response, Sierra Club’s Jackie Ostfeld, director of Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All campaign, released the following statement:

“We are heartened to see the administration move forward with this memorandum. It demonstrates an important step towards achieving the goals of conservation and preservation of public green spaces through an equitable lens. About 100 million people in the U.S., including 28 million children, do not live within a 10-minute walk of a quality neighborhood park, with the greatest disparities found in Black and Brown communities. At Sierra Club, we want to see that number halved by 2030, and this new committee is a strong indication that the Biden administration recognizes the challenge. 

“We hope this is just the start of a whole-of-government approach to closing the nature equity gap and ensuring all communities can exercise their human right to a healthy environment. The administration can and should invest in programs that will ensure all people can safely access nearby nature and feel welcome, included and see their history and stories reflected in our parks and public lands.”

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.