The Willamette Partnership - Developing a market for trading ecosystem services

The Willamette Partnership - Development of trading markets for ecosystem services
Bobby Cochran, Executive Director of the Willamette Partnership

http://willamettepartnership.org/

Background/Question/Methods

The Willamette Partnership is a nonprofit coalition of business, environmental, agricultural, local government, and other leaders working to expand the pace, scope and effectiveness of conservation. The Partnership has developed tools to quantify the ecosystem services values of wetland, stream, prairie, oak, and sagebrush ecosystems in terms various “investors” can pay for. These market-based approaches have led to over $15 million invested in riparian restoration from urban wastewater utilities, $800,000 to purchase the ecosystem service values of restoration from state granting agencies, and increasing use of these metrics by multiple government agencies. This talk will cover the social, economic, and political aspects of turning the science of ecosystem services into decisions to invest in conservation.

Results/Conclusions

Measuring ecosystem services in a market-like conext involves trade-offs. There is a constant search for balance between uncertainty and complexity, measuring what has value vs. what people will pay for, and quantifying the continual changes inherent to ecosystems. As a result, the social aspects of applying metrics can be just as important as the ecological science.