2022 is a momentous year for biodiversity. In early summer parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, headquartered in Montreal) will have agreed on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF). Addressing threats that contribute to species extinctions and affect their role in ensuring ecosystem integrity underpins the GBF’s overarching goal of “healthy and resilient populations of all species” and "reduced extinction rates”. Although multiple actions are needed to safeguard biodiversity, establishing targets for protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) is recognized as a primary mechanism to achieve this goal. Following ambitious, longer-term visions, broad consensus has emerged for a global target to conserve 30% of the planet’s lands and oceans by 2030 (“30 by 30”); Over 60 countries have already pledged to support this target, including the United States where the Biden administration has launched the “America the Beautiful” initiative and committed to "conserving at least 30 percent of [the United States'] lands and oceans by 2030". There is now an urgent need for the scientific community to provide basic insights, guidance, and spatially explicit information in support of conservation decisions in a changing world, in North America and beyond. Our symposium will provide ESA participants with an overview and synthesis of key relevant dimensions: the larger international policy setting, environmental economic aspects, spatial ecological science, and conservation practice. The first theme will be addressed by the Head of Monitoring, Review and Reporting of the CBD (Jillian Campbell); the second by an environmental economist studying conservation decisions in the United States (Christoph Nolte); the third by a lecture addressing an initiative associated with GEO BON and Map of Life addressing conservation priorities for N American species at management resolution (Walter Jetz); the fourth by a speaker representing the practical challenges of conservation in N America in a changing climate (Mark Anderson). The symposium talks and summary discussion are aimed at engaging the ecological research community in a synthetic way around the questions and opportunities for a path to 30 by 30 that supports biodiversity in a changing world. References: https://www.cbd.int/conferences/post2020https://www.doi.gov/priorities/america-the-beautifulNolte, C. 2020. High-resolution land value maps reveal underestimation of conservation costs in the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117:29577-29583. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2012865117 Jetz, W., J. McGowan, D. S. Rinnan, H. P. Possingham, P. Visconti, B. O’Donnell, M.C. Londoño-Murcia (2021): Include biodiversity representation indicators in area-based conservation targets. Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01620-y