Operationalizing ecosystem services into existing U.S. natural resource management policies: The case for carbon sequestration and storage

Background/Question/Methods

Many agencies and organizations, including in the United States federal government, are expressing interest in the measurement and valuation of ecosystem services. Despite this interest, specific guidance on whether and how to incorporate ecosystem services into federal policies and activities remains scarce. In this analysis, we examine whether it is possible to incorporate the carbon sequestered and stored in coastal habitats (i.e. ecosystem “carbon services”) into the way three current federal policies are implemented.  The three policies we chose as case studies are: the Clean Water Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the Natural Resources Damage Assessment process. 

Results/Conclusions

Our case studies reveal that it is possible to incorporate the carbon services into existing processes—consultative, regulatory, and mitigative—that are employed to implement these policies. Specific examples illustrate how carbon services could be incorporated into the implementation of each federal policy. We conclude that incorporating carbon services into existing environmental policy could provide increased protection or restoration of coastal habitats, specifically through changing the way the federal government implements national policy and by stimulating increased investment in coastal habitat conservation through private carbon markets. These outcomes would result in a “win-win” for both climate regulation and habitat conservation and would preserve not only the carbon services, but also the many ecosystem services these habitats provide.