Climate & Biodiversity Action Commitments

ASLA has made formal commitments on climate & biodiversity action:  

2025 

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples  

At the request of the Indigenous Collective Group, ASLA adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, strengthening its support for Indigenous rights, Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK), the protection and restoration of ecosystems, and climate equity.

2024 

Co-Healing Land and Culture 

At its 2024 Conference, ASLA announced a historic call to action — Co-Creating a Future That Heals Land and Culture. The call to action acknowledges the role of Indigenous knowledge in efforts to live in harmony with the natural world, preserve biodiversity, mitigate and adapt to climate change, and create spaces that nurture both people and the planet. It was developed by a team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners. 

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework 

ASLA announced its support for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and its key goals and targets. Landscape architects are committed to achieving the 2030 goals and targets, including protecting and restoring at least 30 percent of terrestrial, coastal, and marine ecosystems by 2030 (30 x 30). They also stand behind the Vision for 2050.

2023

Global Goal for Nature 

ASLA joined 340 organizations worldwide in signing the Global Goal for Nature: Nature Positive by 2030. The Call to Action makes an appeal for “improving the state of nature by 2030; ensuring rights-based approaches to nature-based solutions and to conserving effectively and equitably 30 percent of land, freshwater, and seas by 2030; and directly tackling the drivers of nature loss,” among other goals.

2022 

ASLA becomes an official observer to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and sends an observer delegation. 

2021

Architecture 2030 1.5°C COP26 Communiqué

ASLA became an official signatory of the Architecture 2030 1.5°C COP26 Communiqué. ASLA joined with Architecture 2030 to call for all sovereign governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent by 2030 and achieve zero emissions by 2040, which would accelerate the current timeline to achieve emission reductions outlined in the Paris Climate Accord by a decade.

From the Communiqué: "We are taking specific actions that fully harness our capacity to affect significant carbon emissions reductions in order to retain a 67% or better probability of meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5ºC budget of 340-400 GTCO2; a 50-65% emissions reduction by 2030, and zero CO2 emissions by 2040."  

International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) Climate Action Commitment  

The ASLA Board of Trustees ratified IFLA's Climate Action Commitment, joining a global coalition of 70,000 landscape architects in 77 countries in committing to limiting planetary warming to 1.5°C (2.7 °F). This is the largest coalition of landscape architecture professionals ever assembled to advance climate action.

ASLA members played key roles in the development of the Climate Action Commitment, with Pamela Conrad, ASLA, Vaughn Rinner, FASLA, and Kotchakorn Voraakhom, International ASLA, participating in the IFLA Climate Change Working Group.

The commitment calls for:  

1) Advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)  
ASLA and its member landscape architects and designers will accelerate efforts to protect and repair ecosystems.

2) Attaining Global Net Zero Emissions by 2040
ASLA and its members will dramatically reduce operational and embodied carbon emissions produced by projects, increasingly harness the unique capacity of landscapes to draw down carbon dioxide, and continue to advocate for low-carbon multi-modal transport systems.  

3) Enhancing Capacity and Resilience of Livable Cities and Communities
Implementing green infrastructure approaches, ASLA and its members will increase efforts to mitigate the urban heat island effect and reduce climate impacts associated with fire, drought, and flooding.

4) Advocating for Climate Justice and Social Well-Being
ASLA and its members will maintain our priority on equity and equality and ensure the right to nearby green spaces and clean water and air.

5) Learning from Cultural Knowledge Systems
ASLA and its members commit to respecting and working with indigenous communities and honoring cultural land management practices to mitigate climate change impacts and continue work towards reconciliation.

6) Galvanizing Climate Leadership
Landscape architects are uniquely positioned to lead the built environment community’s response to the climate crisis. ASLA will continue to collaborate with clients, suppliers, and allied professions to champion climate positive landscapes, which involves planning and designing landscapes that sequester more greenhouse gas emissions than they emit.

2018

ASLA joined the America Is All In movement, a national coalition of 4,100 states, cities, companies, and organizations that remain committed to achieving US greenhouse gas emission reduction targets as part of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. ASLA was one of the first organizations representing the built environment community to join the coalition.