2005 was, in many ways, the year of carbon. The Kyoto Protocol went into effect, the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) was launched, the voluntary carbon market grew exponentially, diplomats from around the globe sketched the outlines of a global carbon market beyond the end of the first stage of the Kyoto Protocol, and the first government-sanctioned carbon market was born in the Northeastern states of the US (the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, affectionately known as RGGI). And, as if that weren't enough, the news has also been good on a monetary level, with estimates suggesting that transactions in the EU ETS were valued at nearly US $4 billion in 2005.

In light of this list of milestones, it is no surprise that attention of late--our coverage included--has been on the world's carbon markets. But is that the full story? And what about the future?

As a forward-looking publication, we can't be mired in what is happening today, or what took place yesterday. And so, of late, we have begun wondering: If 2005 was the year of carbon, what ecosystem service will claim 2006?

Will it be the year that conservation banking really takes off across the United States and successfully leaps oceans to new lands? Will nutrient trading finally become robust enough to establish a solid beachhead in the Chesapeake Bay, or will it help save the waters of Lake Taupo in New Zealand? Will Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) become a truly effective tool for environmental protection and sustainable development across Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America?

It is partially in the hopes of spotting some trends for 2006 that the Ecosystem Marketplace has turned away from carbon in the last two weeks to look at: North Carolina's revolutionary approach to wetlands mitigation; the World Wildlife Fund's efforts to introduce PES projects in the Danube Basin; the emergence of conservation banking in the Pacific Northwest; new ways to stack revenues from the sale of the many ecosystem services flowing from a single piece of land; and Sandra Postel's lifelong efforts to help global society protect the freshwater ecosystems that make up its truly "liquid" assets.

No one--the Ecosystem Marketplace included--can really know what twists and turns 2006 holds for those interested in ecosystem services. And that, quite frankly, is what has us looking forward to our job in the coming year as we work to keep you informed about new developments in the biodiversity, water and carbon "markets" of the world. We thank you for your support in 2005 and hope that you will continue to look to us for compelling stories and useful information in 2006.

Happy New Year from all of us at the Ecosystem Marketplace,

Amanda Hawn, Associate Editor
Ricardo Bayon, Managing Editor
Michael Jenkins, Publisher
Adam Davis, Editor-in-Chief