California’s Climate Approach Studied Closely at Summit in Chile

Conservation and biodiversity experts from across the Americas met in Valdivia, Chile, in Janaury to learn about innovative ways to preserve natural landscapes increasingly at risk around the globe. I was honored to participate in “Conservation Capital in the Americas: A Hemispheric Dialogue on Conservation Finance,” as president and co-founder of the Pacific Forest Trust and as a fellow of the Lincoln Land Institute, one of the conference's co-sponsors.

This gathering was an exciting chance for conservation practitioners, educators and students to explore some of the most effective practices and emerging innovations in the field of conservation finance.

Some of the promising approaches under discussion included the use of carbon markets to conserve and restore forests, as well as the development of other ecosystem service "markets" or financing systems to advance the protection of natural systems. “Conservation investment banking” methods such as public and private debt-for-nature swaps were discussed, along with micro, small, and medium enterprise financing methods to achieve conservation in concert with economic development.

We also discussed the use of tax and public budgetary policy to finance land conservation initiatives.

Many of the attendees I met were keenly interested in California’s approach to climate stabilization, which includes forest conservation and stewardship. At the very least, they hoped to be part of international efforts to market climate gains from forests.

Representatives from our host country Chile, for example, are committed to developing appropriate legal tools to enable the conservation of private lands in a manner that is comparable to what we do in the United States with conservation easements. I hope we can continue to share best practices with them and others who seek to further conserve their valuable natural landscapes.

The conference was covered by El Mercurio, Chile’s top daily newspaper.

Jim Levitt, director of the Program on Conservation Innovation at The Harvard Forest, coordinated the event, and made special provisions to minimize its carbon footprint. He purchased emissions reductions from the Pacific Forest Trust's Van Eck Forest Project to offset travel associated with the conference.

Student papers shared at the conference currently are available for review. Additionally, papers presented at the conference will be compiled into a book, titled "Conservation Capital in the Americas." It will be a great help to conference participants as they work to put the innovative ideas we discussed into practice.







Laurie Wayburn
President