Land use conversion, climate change, and other anthropogenic impacts continue to deteriorate habitat across the country. Though species conservation is a goal of many NGOs, agencies, and citizens, the acres and funds dedicated to conservation efforts are currently inadequate to appropriately restore or protect the habitat needed for the continued survival of at-risk species. Even funded habitat projects, be they required mitigation or conservation investments, often do not include the financial or information incentivizes that encourage project implementers to maximize the environmental return on investment during implementation of the project, thus leaving the risk of project failure and cost overruns primarily on the funder. How can we motivate projects that promise long-term, sustainable ecological outcomes?
Environmental Incentives and our partners have designed and will present several habitat conservation programs with the goal of improving effectiveness of ecological restoration and conservation projects, and ensuring environmental return on investment in these projects. We create clear environmental metrics that measure habitat functionality, financial instruments that account for the long-term costs of habitat management, and clear reporting and tracking mechanisms for clear communication.
Results/Conclusions
Programmatic conservation efforts show that clear informational incentives and robust financial incentives create projects with long-lasting, sustainable habitat outcomes. The State of Nevada Conservation Credit System is currently utilizing pay-for-success mechanisms to direct $2.2 million toward sagebrush habitat conservation to benefit the imperiled sage grouse. Financial frameworks in the Lower Colorado River Delta help land managers understand the true cost accounting behind large-scale riparian restoration efforts, and help track outcomes across organizations, regions, and habitat types.
This presentation will detail the benefits and outcomes of these programs, as well as lessons learned from building these incentives frameworks, including the importance of multi-stakeholder buy-in, scientifically-sound metrics, and the ability to track long-term outcomes. Specific outcomes that demonstrate results of the projects include:
- Habitat enhancement projects selected for funding by the State of Nevada were projected to generated significantly greater environmental return on investment than those not funded, and landowners have the tools to exceed projected ecological outcomes and maintain them in the long run.
- Mining projects that modified their project design to reduce indirect effects to greater sage-grouse due to outcome-based performance assessments.