Tribal land return, a total ban on synthetic pesticides and the creation of a new state office of conservation anchor a new environmental report that calls on Maine to convert its voluntary climate goals into binding requirements over the next five years.

The Meeting the Moment report, released Tuesday by a coalition of 17 advocacy and public health organizations, challenges Augusta to adopt a values-driven blueprint for protecting the state’s natural assets as Mainers face record energy costs and increasingly destructive storms.

The plan represents expansion of existing state policy, starting with a call for a Wabanaki-led process for returning ancestral lands and the full restoration of self-governance for the Mi’kmaq Nation, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Penobscot Nation.

“Our young Wabanaki people deserve to live in a world where their sovereignty is not questioned and their rights to self-governance do not waver,” Penobscot Nation citizen Sage Phillips says in the report.

Moving to the modern power grid, the coalition turns its attention to the pocketbooks of Maine ratepayers. The report calls for a legal mandate to reach 100% clean energy by 2040 while demanding that state regulators rein in the profit margins of electric utilities to ensure affordability.

“We can’t sit back and hope that the high cost of electricity will come down on its own,” Emily Rochford, a community engagement manager at Maine Community Power Cooperative, said in the report.

Meeting the Moment calls for a restrictive approach to Maine’s traditional working lands. The coalition is pushing for a total phaseout of synthetic pesticides to safeguard the health of the agricultural workforce and the state’s food supply.

“No parent wants their child exposed to dangerous chemicals — especially in their water, food and air,” said Abby Fleisch, a pediatric endocrinologist in Portland.

The report also sets a deadline to conserve 30% of Maine’s natural and working lands by 2030, one of the climate goals that Maine is falling short on due to the lack of permanent funding.

“Maine’s land is essential to our identity and economy,” said state Sen. Russell Black, R-Wilton.

This report diverges from the official state climate action plan, Maine Won’t Wait. The latest version of that plan focuses on voluntary progress, celebrating record heat pump or incentivized electric vehicle adoption, while Meeting the Moment demands structural government overhauls.

While Maine Won’t Wait emphasizes collaboration with the Wabanaki nations, Meeting the Moment demands the full implementation of all recommendations from the Task Force on Changes to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act, a state law approved in 1980.

Meeting the Moment proposes the creation of both a Cabinet-level Department of Conservation to centralize land stewardship and a Youth Advisory Council to give younger generations a formal voice in Augusta.

“Maine’s future shouldn’t just be something our youth inherit,” said Jackson Chadwick, the advocacy and organizing director for Maine Youth for Climate Justice, a coalition of almost 500 young Maine people. “It should be something they help create.”