The Nature Conservancy, Conservation Easements and Climate Change Environmental Law I Fall 2008

Two Conceptual Linkages: Large-scale impact assessment based on biodiversity, conservation biology Role of land use in climate change

TNC: Acting Globally and Locally To Protect Biodiversity

TNC: “Conservation by Design”

TNC’s Approach to Climate Change

Adaptation Conserve areas that will help provide resiliency Acquire and restore properties to support migration of plants, animals and ecosystems Incorporate climate change into planning process, priorities

Florida Keys Meso-American Reef Micronesia Coral Triangle Indian Ocean Hawaii Resilient Marine Protected Areas

Early emissions reductions are better than later ones—they “keep on giving”

Stop global deforestation Double vehicle fuel economy Double coal power efficiency Increase wind power by 50 times Increase global ethanol production by 50 times Increase solar power by 700 times Cut vehicle use in half Capture carbon from 3/4ths of current coal plant capacity Cut emissions from buildings and appliances by a quarter Double current nuclear capacity Replace current coal power capacity with natural gas Adopt ‘conservation tillage’ for all agriculture Pick seven by 2050 What Wedges Look Like:

Trees are loaded with carbon

But logging releases a lot of carbon

Are forests that big a deal? An area the size of England, Scotland and Wales combined is deforested every year. Deforestation produces approximately 20% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Presently, carbon stored in trees has a zero or negative dollar value Letting the forest grow is a “pure public good”—it benefits everybody by sequestering carbon, and you can’t recapture the economic benefit of that service. Private forest lands are assessed on the value of the standing timber, at current market rates—an incentive to cut and cash out. “Forestry offsets” could create economic incentives to refrain from logging.

Tools to reduce or reverse deforestation Direct purchase of property interests (fee, conservation easement, timber rights) Stewardship outreach (work with landowners to use more sustainable harvesting practices) Mobilizing government to create better forest protection incentives Raising funds to use for promoting ecological resiliency, carbon sequestration, and forest stewardship

Strengths of TNC Approach Landscape-scale planning, applied globally Based on “good science” Networks stakeholders in partnerships “Business-friendly,” nonconfrontational Generates substantial monies Context for working toward sustainability (integrating economy, ecology, society)

Promoting Corporate Responsibility

Potential Weaknesses Greenwashing False sustainability Self-dealing Bad or ineffective partnerships Enabling tax evasion games Lack of follow-through on stewardship Failure to follow through on stewardship

Growing popularity of land conservancies—are we “suboptimizing,” checkerboarding, over-privatizing, undermining the tax base?