Whereas the Earth is facing a crisis of biodiversity loss and species extinction; Whereas there has been an average 69-percent decrease in population sizes of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish between 1970 and 2018; Whereas the recent global rate of species extinction is at least tens-to-hundreds of times higher than the average rate over the past ten million years and has increased sharply since 1900; Whereas today more than one million plants and animal species are threatened with extinction; Whereas climate change increases the risks of species extinction and irreversible loss of biodiversity, presenting an existential crisis for humans and millions of other species around the world; Whereas human-driven changes in land and sea use are drivers of both biodiversity loss and climate change; Whereas ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, grasslands, and mangroves can sequester large amounts of carbon, and protecting these areas and their wildlife populations can mitigate climate change by preventing carbon from being released into the atmosphere; Whereas conserving and restoring natural ecosystems provides greater net economic benefits than destroying natural spaces and wildlife for profit; Whereas industries that do not harm biodiversity, such as the outdoor recreation industry that supported 4.5 million jobs across the United States and accounted for $862 billion in gross output in 2021, enable individuals to have meaningful careers outside in nature; Whereas establishing protected natural areas can contribute many benefits to people, including by— (1) mitigating effects of climate change and buffering the impacts of extreme weather events; (2) providing cleaner drinking water; (3) reducing air pollution; (4) being a source of new medicines; (5) reducing local rates of infectious diseases and broader risk of zoonotic spillover that can contribute to pandemics