Author: rickpace1

The Economic and Market Value of Coasts and Estuaries

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From Linwood Pendleton’s Foreword:

We encourage you to use this book as a primer, a reference, and a launching point for your own efforts to understand the potential economic benefits of coastal restoration where you live and work. The book is the seed of a living project to provide restoration professionals with the economic information and guidance needed to design, monitor, and implement coastal and restoration projects. Updates to chapters, new chapters, and links to the types of data found in this book are available online at www.estuaries.org and www.coastalvalues.org.

Economic and Market Value of Coasts and Estuaries

Concerns with Carbon Markets

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I have ongoing concerns with carbon markets. Alex Steffen, in a recent WIRED article, says it well…

We don’t need a War on Carbon. We need a new prosperity that can be shared by all while still respecting a multitude of ecological limits – not just atmospheric gas concentrations, but topsoil depth, water supplies, toxic chemical concentrations, and the health of ecosystems, including the diversity of life they depend upon.

We can build a future in which technology, design, smart incentives, and wise policies make it possible to deliver a high quality of life at lower ecological cost. But that brighter, greener future is attainable only if we embrace the problems we face in all their complexity.

I’ve been encouraged by the growth of the carbon market…and the potential of those markets to remediate greenhouse gases. But I also realize from our own research and development that we are better off to solve our environmental problems in an integrated and adaptive manner…not being too ‘simple’ in markets designed to solve complex problems. Both in scale and extent, we had tended to be overly general. It has also been difficult to bring capital to complex solutions because, by their sheer complexity, they hold significant risk.

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and Forest Offsets

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The Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences has created recommendations for forest offsets for RGGI.

They are very interesting! Think “scale’ as a major factor. From their Introduction:

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a cap-and-trade system designed to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from electricity generation in 10 northeastern states starting in 2009. Power plants seeking to meet their RGGI obligations have the option to offset a portion of their emissions (up to 3.3%) through projects that reduce emissions or sequester carbon in other sectors (such as the forestry sector).The Maine Forest Service and its partners, Environment Northeast (ENE), Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, have been asked by the RGGI Staff Working Group to propose recommendations for possibly expanding forest carbon offset project types in RGGI. This document represents a brief summary of our recommendations at this time. As we have worked to develop these recommendations, it became apparent to us that projects under a cap-and-trade program cannot address all that is needed to capitalize on the full potential forests have to reduce atmospheric GHGs; therefore, we recommend a two-pronged strategy which goes beyond these recommendations for expanding the range of carbon offset projects which are eligible. The second prong is to support programs which help keep forests as forests and maintain current management because these efforts too benefit carbon storage even though they cannot meet RGGIs requirements for offsets.

Update from John Phipps on corn and beans

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Notes from John Phipps’ Blog on his observations on corn and bean crops:

  • We finished (or at least stopped) Friday night. I decided against spotting in corn wetholes – too much damage, too little gain.
  • We replanted about 130 acres of 800 of soybeans. Around here, no-till for beans was a difficult mission this year. The replanting was even more nerve-wracking: “Is this part thick enough? What about this part?”
  • When I was traveled to Ames last Thursday, the view from I-80 was deceptive. Things didn’t look all that bad until you noticed:
    • It’s June 19 – not May 19.
    • At first glance you might form the impression IA farmers only plant the tops of the hills. The sides and bottoms were bare.
  • When I flew into Des Moines this morning, I had a clear view. Immediately you are struck by the absence of green and the dominance of brown. Too much brown. The entire state appears late – very late.
  • Surprisingly, the attitude of farmers I spoke to Thursday evening was relatively calm. Some will continue corn planting today, they hope. I guess some were pretty late last year and got decent yields anyway. Still, this far north I was surprised they were still going with corn, although many already had atrazine down.
  • I’m currently going through the second adjustment stage emotionally. I recognize these now. Up until Friday, all I could focus on was “GET DONE”. Now I’ve been out on the cultivator trying to open up the ground and seeing the corn crop up close and personal. The scope of the loss is now slightly clearer.
  • The corn stand is better than I thought. The condition is worse. Much will come out of it, I think, but my current figure for overall yield is 80% trendline corn; 75% beans.
  • I think the hay market will be chaotic. What little got baled around here is umm, crap. Rank, overgrown, nasty stuff. Livestock, and especially horse owners just added another challenge.

New EPA Report Available on Ecosystems and Climate Change

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From the US EPA Press Release:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released a report that can help reduce the potential impact of climate change on estuaries, forests, wetlands, coral reefs, and other sensitive ecosystems. The report, entitled Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources, identifies strategies to protect the environment as these changes occur.To develop this assessment, scientists studied national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, wild and scenic rivers, national estuaries, and marine protected areas – all protected by the federal government.
The report takes a unique approach by using the management goals set for each protected area to understand what strategies will increase the resilience of each ecosystem – in other words, increase the amount of change or disturbance that an ecosystem can absorb before it shifts to a different ecosystem. Using these strategies, managers can maintain the original goals set for these ecosystems under changing climatic conditions. The strategies will be useful to federal agencies and can also be broadly applied to lands and waters managed by other government or nongovernmental organizations.The report finds that climate change can increase the impact of traditional stressors (such as pollution or habitat destruction) on ecosystems, and that many existing best management practices to reduce these stressors can also be applied to reduce the impacts of climate change. For example, current efforts to reverse habitat destruction by restoring vegetation along streams also increase ecosystem resilience to climate change impacts, such as greater amounts of pollutants and sediments from more intense rainfall. Our country’s ability to adapt to climate change will depend on a variety of factors including recognizing the barriers to implementing new strategies, expanding collaboration among ecosystem managers, creatively re-examining program goals and authorities, and being flexible in setting priorities and managing for change.

For more information on Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources:

 

Heard on the ecostreet…and we aren’t in Kansas anymore

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I just heard a brief NPR report concerning Barack Obama’s new media campaign to reintroduce himself to the American public. They played an excerpt commenting on his upbringing in Kansas. I found myself reflecting on my childhood in Kentucky…playing by woods and fields, splashing in creeks and streams (while avoiding the feared copperheads), and running through the most amazing and vast farmlands. I built forts in hayfields, chased down horses (the slow ones), and basically loved the outdoors.

My home was often uncomfortable (no need for the details), so I made ‘spaces’ for my life in nature.

I’m sitting here many years later…. on a week where I’ve hardly seen any nature. Meetings and writing with the computer have consumed my week. My wife just picked up a package of seeds…and it relaxed my mind.

I’m certain it’s hard for Mr. Obama (and Mr. McCain)…we aren’t in Kansas anymore.

Some notes from the week.

Heard from USDA that they will soon be moving forward with the 2008 Farm Bill ecosystem services initiatives…assessment protocols, etc. I initially thought there would be other priorities…but this is going to get immediate attention.

There will be some interesting changes in NRCS programs in the new rulemaking…and some improvements in how they handle operating (and other) funds. This should be helpful to our local NRCS folks…who work hard at sometime confusing tasks. I’m glad for them.

John Phipps got his last 300 acres of beans planted. He’s very lucky…I listened to the crop analyst today at lunch and we’re in for some serious trouble.

Dinner is ready…more next week.

Foodstuff Transect

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Foodstuff Transect

 

Click on the image to enlarge.

Since food prices have taken center stage, particularly given the Midwestern floods and the impact on corn and soybeans, I thought it might be good to take a look at a diagram Andres Duany uses in his land planning  – the Foodstuff Transect.

We’ve not thought much in our contemporary planning about ‘food spaces’ and I think that is about to change! 

Getting the Water Right

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Getting the Water Right

Andy Manale (EPA) and I met after the Katoomba Meetings. During our discussion, we spoke about a number of the critical water supply and water quality issues confronting us….in the very near term. Attached is the announcement of a meeting taking place in Tucson late in July organized by the Soil and Water Conservation Society.

Part of the problem in understanding many of these water issues is the lack of hydrologic models and knowledge, particularly when it comes to incorporating climate change. The meeting will work on many of those issues.

Bring your 100+ weather gear…Arizona in July!

2008 Global Katoomba Meeting

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I just returned this morning from the 2008 Global Katoomba Meeting themed “Developing an Infrastructure Fund for the Planet”….felt a bit like Pat Coady who said to me after the meeting  “I have enough trouble trying to save 10 acres in our local land trust and now they want us to save the planet”.

It was a vast and daunting amount of information and opinion. John Holdren of the Woods Hole Research Center opened the meeting with an overview of the current science and economics. He’s a wonderful data presenter…and the news was bleak (I’ll put up his presentation when it becomes available). There were numerous insights both from his science and from other comments though the two days. For example, there are respected scientific analyst who see Lake Meade drying up before two decades….ironically I glance at the Soutwest Airline magazine on the flight to Providence and notice three enormous casino/resort development projects going up in Las Vegas…where have they been getting their environmental and economic advice?

Many of the significant early developers of carbon finance were present, and their thoughts were interesting…although the scale of the financing is troublingly large given the newness of the methodologies for credit creation, verification, and monitoring.

I spent a good bit of time collecting information on new efforts, pilots, and tool development….and tried to push folks along to provide more finance for those efforts.

As the presentations from the conference become available I’ll have more to say.