2009 Conservation Leadership Dialogue on
CONSERVATION CAPITAL IN THE AMERICAS
EXEMPLARY CONSERVATION FINANCE INITIATIVES
IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
January 16-19, 2009, Valdivia, Chile
Homework
Participants were asked to answer this question prior to the conference:
In the next several years, it is possible that we will make substantial progress on creating or advancing
several conservation finance methods or techniques in the Western Hemisphere. These conservation
finance techniques may involve the public, private or non-profit sectors, and may be advanced in a single
nation, or across many nations. Would you please describe, in 100 words or less, one conservation
finance method which you would recommend be advanced, and why?
Participant Responses
Victoria Alonso, The Nature Conservancy
See her paper on, "Efforts to Allow for Conservation Easements in Chile." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
Raisa Banfield, Centro de Incidencia Ambiental
Un proyecto de financiamiento que involucre a la sociedad civil ambiental organizada, empresa
privada, comunidad y autoridad en una trilogía de: Capacitación, ejecución, fiscalización.
Apoyando financieramente a las organizaciones que trabajan con las comunidades en defensa de
su entorno, para que puedan capacitarlas en el mejor aprovechamiento y manejo de su recurso
natural, según la vocación del suelo correspondiente. Fortalecer económicamente a los
gobiernos locales para brindar las facilidades necesarias para la ejecución de los proyectos, en
donde la empresa privada a través de planes de responsabilidad social-ambiental brinde apoyo
técnico, mientras la comunidad fiscaliza el rendimiento de estos fondos midiendo resultados en
base al mejoramiento de su calidad de vida a través del aprovechamiento del recurso protegido.
Olga Barbosa, IEB-Chile
I am particularly interested exploring the feasibility of establishing a “Payment for Ecosystem
Services” scheme in Chile. I think this could be explored in the Mediterranean zone, which is a
highly threatened ecosystem due to agriculture and urban settlements. I also believe that
principles supporting PES need revision and further exploration because in some cases they
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don’t necessarily guarantee conservation (e.g. exotic forest plantation). I believe one of the major
challenges Chile faces for achieving this objective, is the lack of incentives for private
conservation and weak property rights. Actually I envisage with optimism the role of private
sector on biodiversity conservation.
Patrick Berher, Harvard College
See his paper on, "Value of a Name: Naming Rights Auctions and their Potential for
Conservation Finance." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Bert Berkeley
As an auditor at this meaningful conference, the message I bring to you is that the importance of
protecting land, and of the benefits of doing so are not sufficiently understood by the general
public. I urge the highly intelligent, knowledgeable individuals here work out a plan to persuade
the general public that forests, wetlands, and biodiversity habitat be protected.
A public relations programs should be developed for each country. The program must be for the
long term. We have an opportunity to take a leadership position in having the general public
recognize the importance of protecting natural systems. We understand the challenge, and now
we must do something about it.
Blair Braverman, Colby College
See her paper on, "The Iditarod Trail as a Model for Conservation." It can be found at
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Carla Chizmar, Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative
One of today’s most important causes of global warming is deforestation, especially in the
developing countries. I believe that REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation) is a powerful option for these countries because people in these regions have
protected and benefited from forests for a very long time without destroying them. Given this
tradition, it would make sense to develop a strategy such as REDD to provide economic
incentives for forest protection. There are still many issues to resolve with regard to REDD,
including setting the rules of the game (internationally) and reducing corruption within the
countries that are trying to benefit from REDD. I also believe that both the public and private
sectors need to be involved in the process in order to make REDD a better option.
Story Clark
The election of the new United States president and the global economic downturn create an
unusual confluence of circumstances that offer opportunities for broad, new strategies for paying
for conservation. The timing is especially fitting given the growing awareness of linkages
between, and serious consequences of, actions that impact the environment (best illustrated by
climate change). One bold initiative would be to realign large-scale land use decision-making
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that is currently riddled with inefficiencies and unnecessary costs, and puts development at odds
with conservation. Now that the environmental (and other) impacts and external diseconomies of
land use changes can be quantified monetarily with some accuracy, project design and analysis
can more realistically assess true costs. A decision-making methodology that produces greater
efficiencies and lessens impacts should be welcomed in this severely capital-constrained
environment. As an example, major land use decisions could be required to:
 Compare proposed costs to those of nonstructural alternatives (e.g. wetlands restoration for
water filtration versus water treatment facility construction);
 Monetarily account for external environmental (and other) diseconomies and mitigation
offsets (e.g. Assign public expenditures for downstream pollution control from nitrogen
runoff to farm subsidies that generate the runoff.);
 Conversely, monetarily account for ecosystem service conservation and restoration.
While this analysis would be inexact at first, the discipline of monetarily accounting for
environmental impacts would catalyze efficiencies, allocate costs to the cause, reduce
environmental impacts, and thus lessen the burden on other sectors to bear these costs. Just as the
US National Environmental Policy Act mandated identification and evaluation of environmental
impacts, this approach would put real numbers squarely on the balance sheet.
David M. Crowe, Rockfish Realty LLC
The state of Virginia has a transferable state tax credit for donations of conservation easements
that has had a considerable impact on the preservation of open space in Virginia. The state credit
is a fixed percentage (currently 40%) of the federal tax deduction for conservation easements.
The donor of the easement voluntarily agrees to place perpetual restrictions on his property
(generally limiting the number of residences, total footprint of buildings, and number of
subdivisions) in return for a federal tax deduction equal to the diminution in the value of the land
as a result of the easement. The restrictions are enforced by the donee, which in most cases is
the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, a state-sponsored entity. Because farmers have limited
federal or state income, historically deductions and credits had little appeal to many landowners.
In 2002, however, the state made its credits transferable, which permitted donors with little
taxable income to sell their credits and realize an immediate cash benefit from their donations.
This feature led to a large increase in the number of easements and caused the state to cap the
total credits permitted under the system to $100 million a year.
I think some form of transferable credit created through a voluntary donation that permits
landowners to keep land in current use should be considered. As with any tax incentive, the
system has not been without its problems, but it has been generally recognized as a great success
in preserving land.
Kim Elliman, The Open Space Institute
See his paper on, "The Open Space Institute." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
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Michael Fiebig, University of Montana
See his paper on, "Financing Conservation Through Place-Based Adoption." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Clare Fieseler, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University
See her paper on, "Coastal Conservation Offsets Mortality at Sea: Applying the Bycatch
Mitigation Model." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Greg Fishbein, The Nature Conservancy
See his paper on, "The Valdivian Coastal Reserve." It can be found at
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
Eva Garen, ELTI
Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are emerging as a promising strategy to protect tropical
forests throughout Latin America. The logic of this approach is that landholders earn economic
revenue to protect ecosystem services generated on their land by charging a fee to those who
benefit from these services. This conservation approach is particularly appealing because it has
the potential to both protect natural resources and biodiversity and to improve local livelihoods.
Yet there are few successful PES case studies in Latin America and concerns are rising about
how local communities will benefit from these efforts. As market-based conservation strategies
such as PES gain popularity in the region, it is critical to understand how these efforts can meet
stated goals in practice.
Jose Gonzales, Universidad del Pacifico
See his paper on, "Caral archeological site and Supe Valley restoration." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
Catherine Gordon, Harvard Extension School
See her paper on, "Pro-Poor Gene Biodiversity Forestry Fund." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Emily Guerin, Bowdoin College
See her paper on, "Accidental Conservation: How Decree Law 701 Inadvertently Encouraged
Regeneration of Native Forests in Panguipulli, Chile." Can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
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Alan Grundy, FutaFriends
The voluntary carbon offset market is a conservation finance method that need to be further
analyzed as a finance tool for private conservation. In Chile, landowners and conservation NGOs
continue to be financially limited in the extent of their conservation impact. The Carbon Credit
Market offers private conservationists, individual or NGOs, an opportunity to finance the
protection of pristine areas and restoration of degraded environments with the purpose of
offsetting industry's carbon footprint. Lack of information, effective monitoring, and a clear
market system are barriers that can be easily overcome by establishing an international
organization focused on creating, monitoring and measuring the carbon offsets by generated by
private protected areas.
Peter Howell, Open Space Institute
See his paper on, "The Open Space Institute." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
Chris Larson, Yale School of Management
See his paper on, "Accessing Low-Cost Conservation Capital from Retail Investors." It can be
found at: http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
David Lewis, Harvard School of Design
See his paper on, "LEED for Lenders, A Conservation Mandate: Sustainable Buildings." It can
be found at: http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Austin Ligon, River Lawn Farm LLC
I have had the opportunity to put several contiguous farms under permanent conservation
easement in Albemarle County, Virginia over the last several years. The Virginia conservation
easement law is considered a model program in the US, having motivated the permanent
conservation of nearly one million acres of land over the last decade. Most of this land is located
in the Piedmont triangle of Northern and Central Virginia between Washington, DC, Richmond,
and Charlottesville. This area is considered one of the most beautiful and historical rural areas in
the US, but has been under tremendous pressure from suburban development, especially from the
DC metro area. The Virginia easement program provides for a state income tax CREDIT on
50% of the appraised "value destroyed" by creating an easement which transfers development
rights permanently to an authorized recipient. The most common recipient is the Virginia
Outdoors Foundation, a state chartered entity that negotiates easements to fulfill the purpose of
maintaining farm and forest land. The credit is fully transferable, so that farmers who do not
have sufficient income to take advantage of the credit can sell their credits in an active
marketplace for 75-85% of face value. An individual taxpayer can use up to $100,000 in tax
credit per year ($200k for a couple). The state of Virginia is currently providing $100 million
per year to support this program.
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Lily Lyman, Endeavor Patagonia
Based on my recent experience working with Endeavor, a non-profit international organization
that supports and promotes entrepreneurship, I would propose that entrepreneurship offers a
promising channel through which to develop conservation finance by combining innovative
solutions with capitalistic incentives. My experience here in Southern Chile and the context of
the local crisis in the Salmon industry with the ISA disease has already proven how
entrepreneurship can promote practices that improve environmental conditions and technology.
In this context, the large salmon companies are now seeking advanced technology and innovative
methods for maintain safe and healthy water conditions for the salmon farms, which has
provided a tremendous opportunity for small entrepreneurs who are developing such tools. The
context of Southern Chile and all its natural resources also affords great entrepreneurial
opportunity in the areas of ecotourism, biotechnology, and conservation. As the region receives
more attention for the beauty of its landscapes and natural resources, there has been greater
mobilization to preserve these areas, which has led the rise of several privately owned parks that
promote ecotourism and environmental education. These are just small examples of how the
public, private, and non-profit sectors can work together to promote new, innovative projects in
the field of conservation.
Ana Maria Alejandra Martínez Barría, Geógrafa Planificadora
En los Últimos años ha habido un creciente interés en los mecanismos de Pagos por Servicios de
los Ecos sistemas, o Servicios Ambientales y Panamá no escapas a estas iniciativas, actualmente
hay un anteproyecto de Ley en la Asamblea Nacional, sobre este Tema.
Y aunque son muchos los Servicios que los diferentes ecosistemas nos brindan, y con los que
podríamos incentivar a las comunidades Locales a Cuidar, para recibir incentivos financieros a
cambio, podemos mencionar algunos de estos servicios: sitios de recarga hídrica, suelos aptos
para la producción agrícola y pecuaria, aguas aptas para riego y consumo doméstico y áreas
para producción forestal.
Yo propongo este Mecanismo de Financiamiento para la conservación y el Desarrollo Local, Ya
que esto se pude llevar a cabo en todos los Distritos de nuestro País, con un proceso de
actualización del Plan de Desarrollo Municipal. Proceso en el que participaran equipos técnico
municipales con asesoría de instituciones sectoriales y la cooperación técnica de algunas ONGs,
para desarrollaran un proceso de concertación con los actores y comunidades locales asentadas
en estos Territorios para la definición de zonas de Conservación, Regeneración Natural y
fomento de Sistemas de Producción Agrícola Sostenible, integrándose como mecanismo de
incentivo financiero para promover cambios de uso de Suelo y Mejorar la Calidad de Vida de
estas Comunidades, y esto se haría Utilizando el concepto de Pago por Servicios Ambientales .
Carlos Medina, Universidad de Conception
See his paper on, "Economic Valuation of the Conservation in the Galapagos Islands." It can be
found at: http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
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Shannon Meyer, Meyer Conservation Services
See her papers on, "Markets for Ecosystem Services and the Reclaiming of the Great Dismal
Swamp,” and "Costa Rica's Groundbreaking Experiment." They can be found at
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
Brian Milder, Root Capital
See his paper on, "Smart Voyager." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
Jeff Milder, Dept. Natural Resources, Cornell University
See his paper on, "Rocky Mountain Ranchland.” It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
Anna Milkowski, Yale School of Forestry
The extent to which land conservation can reduce existing and emerging public health burdens
presents both an opportunity for impact and for funding. Multidisciplinary research stands to
make the case that conservation can play an essential, upstream, and cost-effective role in health
promotion - not just through clean water and minimization of landscape change that drives
emerging infectious diseases, but though promotion of local agriculture and physical activity
patterns that will curtail the growing global incidence of chronic diseases. Expanding ecosystem
marketplace concepts to encompass avoided health care costs could empower conservation and
simultaneously serve other pressing social needs.
Chris Morrell, Bates College
See his paper on, "Cap, Trade, and Monitor: Conservation Through Responsible Land Use in
Maine." It can be found at: http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Laurel J. Neylon, Capital Giving for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for Harvard
University
In my view, there are opportunities to shift the paradigm of financing open space for recreation and
conservation use in the Western Hemisphere. On example is in the field of community – based tourism.
Conservation areas contribute and enhance the overall character and uniqueness of a destination and
provide a have proven successful especially where land ownership has been in question and could
potentially threaten the community land. Employing practices that protect and preserve the environment
will not only support community development, increase the value of a tourist destination but also
improves triple bottom line results while enhancing the heritage and overall well being of a community.
Critical to the success of such ventures will require a multi-stakeholder approach including a strong civic
voice and engagement, public and private partnerships to stretch resources and leverage public
investment. I am very optimistic that with the right leadership and resources, wonderful outcomes will
result.
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Pat O’Connell, Evergreen Conservation Finance
Future conservation finance techniques should combine land preservation with payment for ecosystem services while responding to landowners’ unique financial needs. An example is in
Pennsylvania and other states in the 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake Bay watershed, which must
meet EPA requirements for nutrient reduction by 2010. These states are establishing nutrient
credit trading programs as a cost-effective way of reducing nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment
flows into their streams and rivers; instead of upgrading plants, publicly owned treatment works
(POTWs) can purchase nutrient credits from farmers instituting best management practices
(BMPs) on their lands. This cap-and-trade solution, applicable in any North American
watershed, allows local non-profits to purchase agricultural conservation easements with
imbedded structural BMPs from farmers, sell the resulting nutrient credits to POTW operators
and use long-term annual payments from POTWs to compensate farmers over time and to fund
stewardship and enforcement of the BMPs and easements.
Guillermo Andres Ospina, Universidad del Valle
See his paper on, "Explorando Mecanismos Financieros para la Conservación de Parques
Nacionales Superpuestos con Tierras Privadas: Caso de Colombia." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Bernardo Peredo, Oxford University
See his paper on, "Indigenous Territories, Ecosystem Services and Conservation Finance in
Bolivia: Windows of Opportunity for biodiversity conservation and local livelihoods." It can be
found at: http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Edilson Jimmy Requena Rojas, U. Continental de Ciencias e Ingenieria
See his paper on, "Estudio de las relaciones entre emisiones biogénicas y la formación de lluvia
en la amazonia para conservación de bosques montanos." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Manuel Rincon-Cruz, Harvard College
See paper on, "Capital Access: Proposal for a Conservation and Reforestation Revolving Loan
Fund." Can be found at http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
Hermilio Rosas, Universidad del Pacifico
See his paper on, "Caral archeological site and Supe Valley restoration." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
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Brian Shillinglaw, New Forests
We need to access low-cost debt and equity for working land conservation and effectively
channel that capital to worthy and durable conservation projects. This will most likely involve
gaining access to retail investment capital, where investors may be willing to accept lower
financial returns on small investments, and tapping into the government’s balance sheet in new
and innovative ways – issuing community forestry revenue bonds in the municipal bond market,
creating a tax credit program similar to the New Markets Tax Credit program but more tailored
to working land conservation, gaining improved access to the Clean Water State Revolving Loan
Funds in the United States, etc.
Anne Shudy Palmer, University of Wisconsin
See her paper on, "'Pay Dirt' Charcoal: Financing Local and Global Land Conservation with
Carbon Payments for Biochar in Agricultural Soils." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Paul Spraycar, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, UC Santa
Barbara
See his paper on, "A Conservation Fund for Sustainable Tourism Development." It can be found
at: http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Peter Stein, Lyme Timber Company
The one conservation finance
technique that holds great
promise is the more finely
grained targeting of private
investment capital. Over the last
20 years in the US, private
investment entities such as
Timber Investment
Management Organizations,
(TIMOs) have co-invested 100s
of millions of dollars alongside
public agencies and non-profit
conservation organizations
(NGOs) to help permanently
secure the conservation of large
swaths of productive forestland. Beyond forests, vast opportunities exist to enlarge this approach
to conserve productive agricultural and range lands as well as degraded lands where the market
can provide a return on the private investment capital through the sale of a variety of ecosystem
service credits. Managing climate impacts, maintaining and restoring fish stocks, securing access
to productive farmland, the emerging economy of ecosystem services are all indications that the
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pioneering use of private capital as a significant partner for forestland conservation holds
promise for a much broader variety of land and marine conservation issues in the US and abroad.
David Tecklin, University of Arizona
Transaction fees for hydroelectricity: an option for financing freshwater conservation in Chile Chile’s freshwater ecosystems are highly threatened, poorly understood, subject to pressures
from an unprecedented hydropower boom, and lacking in any dedicated source of conservation
funding. This paper proposes enacting a conservation fee on transactions in hydroelectricity
markets as a potential financing option that is adapted to Chile´s market-oriented policy
framework for both water and electricity sectors, and that could generating resources at the
required scale. Initial exploration of this option draws on two sets of international experiences:
environmental levies on hydropower which are typical of public sector led development, and
transaction fees which are common in U.S. real estate markets.
Lissy Esther Tapia P., Jefa del Departamento de Ordenamiento Territorial Ambiental
El pago por servicios ambientales (PSA), es un mecanismo para el financiamiento de la
naturaleza, que se ha esta comenzando a desarrollar en varios países de la región. El PSA, es una
acción voluntaria donde un servicio ambiental bien definido es comprado por al menos un
comprador, a por lo menos un proveedor del servicio, solo si el proveedor asegura la provisión
del mismo. Actualmente se destacan cuatro tipos de PSA: 1. Secuestro y Almacenamiento de
Carbono. 2. Protección de la Biodiversidad 3. Belleza Escénica 4. Protección de Cuencas
Hidrográficas.
Considero que el PSA es un mecanismo de financiamiento que debe ser desarrollado , pues al ser
un acto voluntario, estamos implementando un esquema de conservación distinto a los
tradicionales , de comando y control, que son los mas utilizados en nuestros países, y que las
experiencia nos han demostrado que son muy poco efectivos.
Adicional a ellos, nos enfrentamos a una crisis en lo concerniente a la disponibilidad y calidad de
aguas. Las cuencas hidrográficas, están siendo muy afectadas por la deforestación, usos de suelos
no compatibles con su vocación y capacidad descarga, así como la contaminación de los ríos, y
el uso de agroquímicos. En el PSA a nivel de cuencas hidrográficas, los usuarios aguas abajo de
la cuenca, pagan a los propietarios de fincas aguas arriba, por adoptar usos de la tierra que eviten
los problemas antes mencionados. Seria un medio para que los productores en la parte alta de la
cuenca, puedan recibir importantes incentivos por medio de compensaciones para cuidar la
cantidad y calidad de agua que aprovechan no solo los usuarios de la parte baja, sino todos los
pobladores de la cuenca y de toda la nación.
Este mecanismo de financiamiento, como en los otros propuestos, conlleva a importantes
desafíos en su implementación los cuales son las estrategias de monitoreo de cumplimiento y
valoración de los servicios, y las estrategias de sustentabilidad económica del mismo.
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Miguel Tang Tuesta, Asociación Amazónicos por la Amazonía – AMPA
Considero que la huella ecológica es el mecanismo más interesante para el financiamiento de la
conservación, por la diversidad de clientes que podrían estar interesados en asumirla de acuerdo
a sus propios requerimientos y políticas. Sin embargo, se hace necesario involucrar más al sector
financiero para que asuma un rol catalizador entre las áreas protegidas que requieren
financiamiento y los clientes del banco a quienes se les ofrece el servicio de la huella ecológica.
En ese sentido considero que se podría trabajar un mecanismo de financiamiento en donde el
banco ofrezca a sus clientes la oportunidad de calcular su huella ecológica y canalizar su aporte
hacia la conservación de “x” hectáreas de bosque, mediante sistemas ya existentes, como el
Depósito a Plazo Fijo de un monto “y” cuyo interés generado “x” será el aporte del cliente
(huella ecológica) para la conservación de “x”.
Henry Tepper, National Audubon Society
See his paper on, "Efforts to Allow for Conservation Easements in Chile." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
Ben Vitale, Conservation International (CELB)
See his paper on, "Chocó-Manabí." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
Laurie Wayburn, Pacific Forest Trust
See her paper on, "Van Eck Forest Project." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
Jude Wu, Yale School of Forestry
See her paper on, "Using the CDFI Model to Envision the 'Ultimate' Conservation Finance
Intermediary." It can be found at http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html
Laura Wurst, University of Southern Maine
See paper on, "Colorado: A Model for Conservation Financing." It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/students.html .
Matt Zieper, Trust for Public Land
See paper on, "Community Preservation Act.” It can be found at:
http://www.conservationcapitalintheamericas.org/Chapters.html .
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