What Is Market-Based Conservation?
America's family forest owners own their woodlands for recreational opportunities (e.g. hunting, fishing, and hiking), scenic beauty, timber production, and preserving rural heritage. These woodland owners manage their woodlands for a variety of reasons, but by keeping their land in tact and wooded, they provide the rest of us with benefits like clean water, carbon sequestration, and wildlife habitat.
Market-based conservation is exactly what it sounds like: conservation of natural areas supported by market mechanisms. This means providing woodland owners with an economic incentive to conserve their woodlands for clean air, clean water, and wildlife habitat. Because we haven’t historically put an economic value on ecosystem services, they are traditionally undervalued.
Woodlands are more-often-than-not economically valued more as non-woodlands through development pressure. To ensure that woodlands remain woodlands rather than parking lots, the American Forest Foundation pioneers innovative market-based methods for woodland conservation by connecting woodland owners with ecosystem users in a market-place.
Woodland owners provide endless ecological benefit through good forest management. These management practices, however, cost money; often, it costs money that the landowner might not have. Providing payment for particular management practices ensures at least two things: 1) that the benefits of woodlands are recognized and valued appropriately; and 2) that the woodland owner can continue providing these benefits into the future. Our projects help woodland owners keep their woods in-tact by providing economic incentive for providing and enhancing particular ecosystem services, like wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration, and water quality.
For more information about AFF’s Conservation Incentives program area, please visit:
