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Economic and Environmental Sustainability: Working with New Partners and Incentives Frank Casey, Ph.D Conservation Economics Program Defenders of Wildlife Conference of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association Washington, DC. March 3, 2009 Cooperative Conservation • Marketplace for Nature • Conservation Registry • Other Partnership Options • Why Do It? Cooperative Conservation Activities It Can Be Done • California Rangeland Conservation Coalition • Willamette Partnership • North Carolina “Inner” Banks Ecosystem Service Markets • Climate, water, and gas regulation • Water supply, nutrient supply • Soil formation, nutrient cycling • Waste management, biological control • Wildlife habitat, food production • Recreation, cultural and scenic values • Provisioning services What is an ecosystem marketplace? • System for buying and selling ecosystem services • Wetland and conservation banks • Offset, or cap-and-trade programs • Voluntary transactions Why an ecosystem marketplace? • Doubled population by 2020 • Habitat loss and fragmentation • Climate change, water shortages, endangered species Why? Existing programs are not enough: • 100% compliance is not enough • Regulations are unevenly applied • Investments are scattered and piecemeal Marketplace for Nature • Try to capture multiple values • Buyers needed • Conservation opportunity areas exist: state wildlife action plans • Rules of the game: Federal Office of Ecosystem Services and Marketing Essential elements of the Marketplace for Nature 1. Ecologically effective 2. Address multiple values 3. Strategic investment at landscape scale 4. Transparent and credible to public 5. Accessible with low transaction costs What is the Conservation Registry? • An online, centralized database • Tracks and maps conservation projects across the landscape • Synthesis and project management tool The Registry captures . . . Three categories of actions: • Habitat Restoration and Management • Enhanced Conservation Status • Monitoring, Education and Research Projects can be: • Proposed, in progress, completed and ongoing management projects Conservation Registry home page: www.conservationregistry.org Other Areas for Conservation Partnerships Control of Invasive Species 2009 Economic Stimulus: Matching Gray with Green Economic Valuation of Conservation Benefits • Open space property values premium • Wetland conservation Threatened and endangered species conservation • Recreational use and values: hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing http://www.defenders.org/programs_and_policy/science_and_econo mics/conservation_economics/valuation/benefits_toolkit.php Resources • Ecosystem services benefits valuation toolkit/models http://www.defenders.org/programs_and_policy/science_and_economics/co nservation_economics/index.php • Florida Ranchlands Environmental Services Project: http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/agriculture/FRESP.html • Willamette Partnership: http://www.williamettepartnership.org/toolstemplates. Countingontheenvironment.pdwiki.com • National Working Group on Ecosystem Services Valuation: [email protected] • Parametrix, Inc. EcoMetrix: Environmental Services Accounting: [email protected] • Pinchot Institute: http://pinchot.org/current_projects/baybank Why Partnerships But Importantly THANK YOU Frank Casey - [email protected] Sara Vickerman – [email protected] Conservation Economics Program Defenders of Wildlife