|
 |
|
- What
is the EcoLandsSM Program?
The
EcoLandsSM program facilitates market transactions that improve
terrestrial ecosystems. ERT
helps property owners reap the value of the ecological services their
lands provide – like sequestering carbon to reduce atmospheric
concentrations of greenhouse gasses, providing wildlife habitat and
improving water quality and flow for fish habitat – by putting land
owners together with buyers for those ecological services.
The EcoLandsSM
Program provides:
-
Identification
of land owners and prospective buyers of the lands' ecological
services;
-
Scientific
and economic evaluation of land transactions, to help identify and
value the potential in changing land uses; and
-
Assistance
in drafting contracts that will reflect and protect the parties’
mutual intentions.
- What
are the goals of the EcoLandsSM Program?
The
goal of the EcoLandsSM Program is to facilitate private market
transactions that will:
-
Reduce
greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere by increasing storage
of carbon in forests and soils, to partially offset carbon dioxide
emitted by burning fossil fuel;
- Integrate
production of non-timber forest products with timber using ecological
forestry practices so that fewer trees are cut;
- Identify,
measure and value site-specific “portfolios” of environmental
improvements, including water quality improvements; and
- Increase
populations of endangered species by exchanges of obligations to
provide critical habitat.
The
EcoLandsSM Program focuses on completing pilot transactions and developing
methods for measuring improvement in the environment (based on that
transaction) and valuing that improvement. Pilot transactions show
what institutional structures are needed to make transactions routine, and
demonstrate for policy makers how markets for ecosystem-related products
and services can be created and sustained. Pilot transactions also
show other landowners how they might benefit from participating in
transactions.
ERT’s mission is to improve the global environment using the power of
markets. The EcoLands program focuses on building markets for
ecological services provided by lands and fresh waters.
- What
is 'carbon sequestration' and why is it important?
Carbon
is “sequestered” when carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is absorbed
in the cells of living plants. There is a growing consensus that the
Earth’s climate is changing, partly as a result of too much CO2
in the atmosphere generated by burning fossil fuels like oil and coal.
While it is important to reduce the amount of CO2 entering the
atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, increasing land-based carbon
sequestration likely is an effective way to offset CO2
emissions and mitigate the climate effects of fossil fuel combustion.
The EcoLandsSM Program is developing incentives to increase the
amount of land-based carbon sequestration. Through the GHG RegistrySM,
ERT also is working with greenhouse gas emitters to produce verified
reductions in annual emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse
gasses.
- What
specific services does EcoLandsSM Program offer today?
The
EcoLandsSM Program has been principally focused on increasing
lands’ sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere, providing a number
of services, which include:
- Advising
on design of projects to store carbon in forests and soils;
- Developing
improved methods for measuring changes in terrestrial carbon;
- Designing
site-specific carbon measurement systems, including measurements of
changes in terrestrial carbon stocks;
- Verifying
measurements and calculations of changes in terrestrial carbon stocks;
- Facilitating
contracts for sequestration of carbon and transfer of rights to that
sequestration; and
- Providing
professional education about how to construct and carry out carbon
sequestration transactions.
- How
do landowners/organizations benefit from the EcoLandsSM Program?
As
a non-profit, environmental organization, ERT provides landowners and
buyers of emission offsets with credible consulting on the design,
measurement and verification of projects, educating landowners about
markets for their lands’ ecological services and assisting landowners in
measuring and valuing those services. These services give landowners
the opportunity to reap the economic rewards of their environmentally
beneficial land uses.
For
example, ERT is working with soil scientists at Colorado
State University
to quantify the precision of a standard method for measuring small changes
in soil carbon. This knowledge is needed to be able to design a
baseline measurement that is both cost-effective and has a high
probability of being able to detect much of the change in carbon stock
occurring within a carbon sequestration project.
In
the future, ERT envisions regional measurement systems that would allow
landowners or others within the region to measure their effects on
specific resources and generate a credible account of actions.
-
Does
the EcoLandsSM Program have any strategic alliances?
ERT
routinely partners with private and public entities to develop markets for
ecological services. For example, ERT is working with landowners
like the Confederated
Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation (Oregon)
and Ochoco Lumber Company. ERT also works with landowner
associations and service providers like the Pacific
Northwest Direct Seed Association
and the Wasco
County Soil and Water Conservation District.
The
EcoLands ProgramSM has worked with the Sand
County Foundation
to assess opportunities for carbon sequestration in savanna restoration.
Because these opportunities are relatively limited, the EcoLands ProgramSM
and Sand
County Foundation
are considering joint efforts for a landscape scale program that might
combine water quality improvements with carbon sequestration in the upper
Midwest. Finally, ERT works closely with researchers and scientists, like
soil scientists at Colorado State University with whom ERT is jointly
developing procedures for measuring soil carbon sequestration.
|
