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 Vol. 1, No. 1: May 18, 2007
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Mark Rey, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment at the Department of Agriculture, announced plans last Thursday (April 12) to press Congress to create a single board to set standards for the plethora of current and emerging ecosystem markets. The Ecosystem Marketplace reports.
PROFILE
by Cameron Walker
The Ecosystem Marketplace follows the career of Kathleen McGinty, head of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), as she works to banish the idea that the economy loses when the environment wins.
OPINION
We recently received a very interesting question about the North Carolina Ecosystem Enhancement Program's value as a model for statewide mitigation programs. We thought our readers would be interested in sharing their knowledge of statewide mitigation programs and learning about the views of others. Below are the insightful responses we received.
PAST FEATURES, PROFILES, AND OPINIONS
by Amanda Hawn
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced a partnership agreement to encourage Water Quality Credit Trading nationwide. The Ecosystem Marketplace catches up with Mark Rey, under secretary of natural resources and environment, for a quick conversation about the exciting new partnership.
by Katherine Hamilton
The Ecosystem Marketplace drops in on a new water quality trading scheme in Ohio, the Great Miami River Watershed Water Quality Credit Trading Program.
by Erik Ness
After years of planning, Pennsylvania is finally poised to begin water quality trading. The Ecosystem Marketplace checks in with one business eager for the bell to ring.
by Alice Kenny
Proving that necessity is indeed the mother of invention, the US states that feed water into the Chesapeake Bay -- an expanse of water twice the size of Ireland -- have begun to explore the use of market-based mechanisms to protect one of the world's largest watersheds. The Ecosystem Marketplace takes a look at how nutrient trading is being explored in Virginia and Pennsylvania.
by Adam Ferguson
The Hunter River Valley has long been one of Australia's most productive regions -- supporting numerous coalmines, huge electricity generators, and much of the country's agriculture. In the 1990s, the varied business owners who depend on the Hunter River for their livelihood came into conflict with one another when industrial discharges into the river made it too salty for fish and farms alike. By going with the river's flow and against the grain of traditional command-and-control conservation, the Hunter River Valley came up with a unique market-based approach to solving the problem in 1995. A decade on, the Ecosystem Marketplace considers what has made the Hunter River Salinity Trading Scheme (HRSTS) a success.
by Virginia Gewin
From Mexico to Malaysia, payments for watershed service schemes are at a critical juncture right now as watershed managers work to transform them from publicly funded pilot programs into privately funded markets. Will watershed markets be able to make this all-important leap? The Ecosystem Marketplace looks at this question and highlights the importance of getting the science right when it comes to markets for watershed services.
Not too big, not too small: WWF seeks the right size and fit for PES projects along the Danube River
by Alana Semuels
As increasing numbers of Central and Eastern European countries join the European Union, an era of transition is afoot for rural landowners in the Danube River Basin. Hoping to lock in positive environmental changes, rather than negative ones, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is using the period of transition to promote payments for ecosystem services along one of Europe's most historic rivers. The Ecosystem Marketplace takes a look.
by Amanda Hawn
Throughout the world, there is now an abundance of so-called marine dead zones; areas where an excess of nutrient runoff from agriculture makes life for many creatures impossible. One way of dealing with these dead zones is by encouraging a market-based cap-and-trade approach to nutrient runoff. The Ecosystem Marketplace explores how these two facts could lead to the creation of new environmental markets.
by Amanda Hawn
Now that carbon markets are beginning to take off, people all over the world are looking to markets in the water-related services of ecosystems as the "next big thing". But markets in watershed services are very different from markets in carbon. Can these services be traded, and if so, how? The Ecosystem Marketplace takes a look at these and other questions.
by Ricardo Bayon
From the Rivers of Colombia to the Highlands of Ecuador, Marta Echavarria, an enterprising environmentalist with a business background, is becoming a leading actor in the creation of systems that pay for watershed conservation services in Latin America.
by Alice Kenny
As a human rights lawyer and long-time political activist, Kadar Asmal might not have seemed the likeliest choice for the post of South Africa's Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry after the fall of apartheid in 1994. Mandela's selection nonetheless proved prescient. By recognizing the connections between healthy people, healthy ecosystems and a healthy economy, Asmal has not only revolutionized water policy in South Africa, but also throughout the world. The Ecosystem Marketplace takes a look at Asmal's revolutionary approach and lasting legacy in the field of ecosystem services.
by Cameron Walker
Sandra Postel, founder of the Global Water Policy Project, has been studying international freshwater issues for over twenty years. In that time, she has become one of the world's most respected scientific communicators and water-policy strategists--authoring three books, publishing a multitude of papers, inspiring a PBS documentary and garnering numerous awards. Of late, Postel has turned her attention to valuing and preserving the services provided by healthy freshwater systems. The Ecosystem Marketplace profiles Postel's inspiring, innovative and practical approach to managing the world's water.
by Mark S. Kieser and "Andrew" Feng Fang
Many have argued that water quality trading could become the next large environmental market. However, for the time being, the market is very small and somewhat fractured, with experience in the US and very few other countries. To look at the issues associated with water quality trading in the US--and to draw some lessons learned from experience to date--the Ecosystem Marketplace asked Mark Kieser and "Andrew" Feng Fang, two experts on the subject, to provide us with their views.
by Tundi Agardy
Forty percent of the global population now lives within a thin band of coastal area comprising 5% of the total landmass. Despite the mounting population pressures on coastal resources, income generation and human wellbeing are currently higher on the coasts than inland. Why? In large part, people living next to the ocean fare better because coastal ecosystems are among the most productive systems of the global environment, supporting not only marine and terrestrial food webs but also providing key goods and services for humankind.
RESOURCES
Water Environment Federation Launches New Peer-Reviewed Journal Aimed at Water Practitioners
(April 10) Water Environment Federation introduced Water Practice, a new peer-reviewed journal focusing on issues pertinent to water professionals including water monitoring, facility operations and maintenance, management, and policy. The journal publishes on a monthly to bi-monthly basis and is available online only.
EPA Introduces Watershed Plan Builder, Newsletter
(May 2) EPA's Watershed Academy sponsored its 20th free webcast seminar, "The Watershed Plan Builder: EPA's New Interactive Web-based Tool Designed to Promote the Development of Comprehensive Watershed Plans".
– View the webcast |
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