The valuation of benefits that we derive from ecosystems, along with investment mechanisms to preserve these benefits, are an increasingly popular realm of both the financial and the conservation worlds. Take part in this webinar series to understand the direction that this rapidly evolving work is moving.
Started in 2012, Nature’s Returns: Investing in Ecosystem Services is a webinar series that addresses the growing importance of ecosystem service valuation and investment.
The benefits that human populations gain from healthy and functioning ecosystems are vast. Clean drinking water filtered by forests, carbon stored in plants or soil, crop pollination by wild insects, and pharmaceutical uses of plants are just a few examples of services humans usually receive for free. A recent wave of efforts to monetize the value of ecosystem services presents an opportunity to both protect these assets and bring their worth into the market.
Currently, conservationists and investors alike are moving into this space in hopes of achieving a win-win for the economy and the environment. An array of public and private mechanisms exist to use payments to encourage responsible land management that preserves public benefits.
So, what do ecosystem services projects look like? Who are the practitioners involved and what skills are most important for breaking into the profession? What obstacles and opportunities does this field face? These questions, among others, are addressed in the webinar series throughout the school year.
The Seychelles Debt-for-Nature Swap
Tuesday April 5, 2016, 10:00 a.m. — 11:00 a.m.
Large scale landscape restoration: the investment case for ecological and regenerative farming
Tuesday March 8, 2016, 1:00 p.m. — 2:00 p.m.
From Niche to Mainstream - Conservation Finance as an Asset Class
Tuesday February 9, 2016, 10:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.
Tackling the Challenge of Creating Water Quality Markets
Sunday October 11, 2015, 7:45 a.m. — 7:45 a.m.
Quantified: The New Book and its Implications for Conservation Impact Investing
Thursday October 1, 2015, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Water in the West: How Impact Investing Can Help
Tuesday September 22, 2015, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Principles and Patterns Will Shape Our New Economy
Tuesday April 21, 2015, 4:30 p.m. — 5:45 p.m.
Cultural Ecosystem Services: the Keys to Sustainability
Wednesday April 1, 2015, 12:00 p.m. — 1:15 p.m.
Valuing Nature: Models of Ecosystem Valuation in Environmental Policy
Thursday March 5, 2015, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Protecting Nature: Landscape Scale Conservation in the United States
Thursday February 26, 2015, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Nature's Returns Special Edition: Mainstreaming the Value of Nature
Monday February 23, 2015, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Mainstreaming Natural Capital into Decision-Making: Frontiers in Research and Policy
Tuesday February 17, 2015, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Bright Spots for Resource Mobilization: Regional Conservation Trusts
Tuesday February 3, 2015, 3:00 p.m. — 4:00 p.m.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation in International Forest Finance - The Green Broker Network
Entrepreneurship and Innovation in International Forest Finance - Brooklyn Bridge Forest
Leadership in Domestic Forest Finance
Tuesday February 4, 2014, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Bridging the Gap: Securing High Conservation Value Forests for Future Generations
Monday January 27, 2014, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Silvicultural and Financial Innovation for Large Scale Restoration in the Mississippi Delta
Lending for Ecological, Social, and Economic Resilience
Thursday December 12, 2013, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Community Forests and Regional Economic Development
Wednesday December 4, 2013, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Innovative Financial Tools for Conservation - How The Nature Conservancy Utilizes Conservation Finance Notes and Other Mechanisms
Wednesday November 13, 2013, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Innovative Financial Tools for Conservation
Wednesday October 30, 2013, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Green Infrastructure Tools in the Nation's Capital
Urban Stormwater Management in the Chesapeake Bay
Monday October 7, 2013, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Private Investments in Natural Infrastructure
Wednesday October 2, 2013, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Thursday April 18, 2013, 5:30 p.m. — 6:30 p.m.
Regional Climate Frameworks: California’s Cap and Trade Experiment
Mitigation Banking
Tuesday January 29, 2013, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Thursday January 24, 2013, 1:30 p.m. — 2:30 p.m.
Engaging US Producers in Conservation and Ecosystem Management
Tuesday December 11, 2012, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
The Role of Forests and Forest Owners in National Ecosystem Services Markets
Tuesday December 4, 2012, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Investing in Conservation: Market-Based Approaches
Tuesday November 27, 2012, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Ecosystem Services: An Investor's Perspective
Ecosystem Services: An NGO Perspective
Introduction to Ecosystem Services
Five Years Catalyzing Sustainable Investing at the 2015 US SIF Conference