Water: Archive
From Mangroves to Blue Carbon-Harnessing New Investment in Marine and Coastal Ecosystems
February 10, 2010 Comment
This latest Katoomba Meeting XVI, in Palo Alto, California is focused on "Building a Blueprint to Harness New Investment for the Protection of Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services."
Paying Poseidon: the Video Blog
February 9, 2010 Comment
Katoomba XVI is now underway in Palo Alto, California, and social entrepreneur Ben Metz is videoblogging from the event. You can follow panel discussions here, and you can keep track of Ben's video blog on this site.
New Global Water Disclosure Project: A Call to Action to the Corporate Sector
November 19, 2009 Comment
Earlier today the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) announced the latest of their "disclosure" projects -- the Water Disclosure Project (WDP). The CDP, founded in 2000, is an independent, non-profit organization with a mission to collect and distribute high quality information that motivates investors, corporations and governments to take action to prevent climate change. They have created the world's largest database of corporate climate change information. Now they aim to do the same for corporate water information banking on the success of the CDP that "disclosure" can play a key role in accelerating action.
International Biodiversity Work Evolving - IPBES, Blue Carbon, and More
October 15, 2009 Comment
International meetings on biodiversity this month included an ad-hoc meeting regarding the Intergovernmental and Multi-Stakeholder Science-Policy Platform of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) held in Nairobi on October 5-9 where delegates of 100 governments discussed, assessed and tried to envisage...
Water quality markets: a slippery slope towards carbon trading?
September 4, 2009 Comment
The Ohio River Basin Trading Pilot Project, managed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), held its third quarter webcast last month. The publicly available webcast covered a whole slew of updates, from an overview of WARMF modeling to project funding developments. One such update turned quite a few heads: EPRI's progress towards using a water quality market to also generate voluntary carbon credits.
Article Summary: Protecting Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in the World's Watersheds
August 24, 2009 Comment
Gary W. Luck, Kai M.A. Chan, John P. Fay. Conservation Letters, Vol 2, issue 4, August 2009, p. 179-188. Accessed online in August 2009. Where do watersheds of global importance for biodiversity (Hotspots, Global 200 ecoregions, or endemic bird areas)...
Wetland banking market wet, but not liquid
August 11, 2009 2 Comments
If you impact (dredge or fill) a wetland in the US, you have to apply to the Army Corps of Engineers for a 404 permit and provide mitigation for whatever impact you have on wetlands. Transferring legal liability from the...
Bonneville dives into water
June 23, 2009 1 Comment
Bonneville Environmental Foundation is a long standing player in the Renewable Energy Certificate and voluntary carbon offset markets. Last Friday at a conference in BEF's hometown of Portland, Oregon the organization announced it is diving into water. Their newest product--- the BEF Water Restoration Certificate (WRC). According to the website, "each certificate enables you to take responsibility for your water consumption by returning back to the environment an amount of water equal to what you use." And how exactly is this organization aiming to reverse your faucet flow? In short, the program 'rents' water rights from holders in the U.S. West, who currently face a "use it or lose it" dilemma.
About this Blog: Environmental Markets To Carbon and Beyond...
May 4, 2009 1 Comment
Some nine years ago, a group of people interested in the environment met under the auspices of a DC-based non-profit called Forest Trends to discuss a question that was pointedly on very few people's minds: Should nature and the services...