On The March

As market-based approaches to conservation become truly global in their reach, we at The Ecosystem Marketplace believe that the cross-fertilization of ideas in the new economy of nature must take place through as many avenues as possible. We are thus happy to announce the launch of our first Spanish "Mercados Ambientales" newsletter. For those of you working in Latin America or Spain, you can now access original Ecosystem Marketplace content in Spanish. If you are interested in receiving Mercados Ambientales, you can sign up by entering your email address here and we will put the latest news surrounding environmental markets in your inbox in not just one language, but two!

Speaking of news, the biggest announcement of recent weeks in the world of environmental markets may have been made by Bank of America Corp. yesterday when it announced $20 billion in environmental initiatives. Craig Cuddeback, chief operating officer of the Cleantech Venture Network said of the bank's move: "It's a relatively safe investment - they wouldn't do it otherwise."

The fact that one of the world's largest lending institutions has chosen to back environmental initiatives to the tune of $20 billion is noteworthy; the fact that others are ready to characterize the decision as relatively mainstream is truly remarkable. Clearly, there has been a sea change in the private sector's approach to the environment in the past few years. The question, now, is what will come of it? Will carbon markets change land-use patterns in New Zealand or help people start the climb out of poverty in East Africa? Will a uniformly recognized standard emerge in the voluntary carbon market that allows citizens to make meaningful contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Will California learn from mistakes in the Kyoto Protocol's design when structuring a cap-and-trade system? And can payment for ecosystem services programs in southern Africa learn from the past two decades of experience with community-based conservation? We address these and other questions in this month's edition of the Ecosystem Marketplace newsletter, reminding ourselves that as we march toward the future we must continue to learn from the past.

— The Ecosystem Marketplace Team

For questions or comments, please contact newsletter@ecosystemmarketplace.com