Robert Haddad, Ph.D. April 26, 2016 SPPEED Conference Rice University, TX

Transcription

1 Robert Haddad, Ph.D. April 26, 2016 SPPEED Conference Rice University, TX

2 We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. Aldo Leopold

3 Presentation Objectives Discuss/Describe the role of ecosystems and the services they provide as an economic force Describe what NRDA is and how we use the concept of ecosystem services and service valuation Discuss some aspects of the Federal Government s evolution in their thinking about landscape conservation, integrated mitigation, and ecosystem services

4 Ecosystems and the Services they Provide: What Are They and Why Do We Care? Ecosystems - a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows, and acting like a system, and defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and their environment (cf Odem, 1971)

5 Ecosystems and the Services they Provide: What Are They and Why Do We Care? Ecosystem services - the benefits provided by ecosystems that support, enrich, and sustain human life (NAS, 2013) Provisioning e.g., food, fuel, fiber Regulating e.g., climate regulation, flood control, water purification Cultural e.g., recreation, spirituality, aesthetics Supporting e.g., nutrient cycling, primary production, soil formation

6 Natural Capital, Ecosystems, and the Services they Provide: What Are They and Why Do We Care? From - Hale et al. (2014). A review of available literature on the metrics and values of services provided by coastal ecosystems. Prepared for the SSPEED Center.

7 Natural Capital The notion that there is an economic value or capital to the stock of physical, chemical, and biological resources of the globe: air, water, soil, land and the biodiversity (including humans) which are supported by those resources. Utilization of ecosystem valuation to realize these economic values Natural Capital Project Stanford, Univ. Minn., TNC, WWF 2012 Natural Capital Declaration An initiative of the global finance sector, it was signed by 40 CEOs to 'integrate natural capital considerations into loans, equity, fixed income and insurance products, as well as in accounting, disclosure and reporting frameworks.'

8 Natural Resource Damage Assessment Authorized under federal laws (CWA, CERCLA, OPA, NMSA, PSRPA) and some state laws (e.g., Texas Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act of 1991) The ultimate objective of NRDA is: To restore, replace, rehabilitate, or acquire the equivalent of the injured natural resources and the services they provide to baseline conditions and To compensate the public for interim losses from the time of injury until they recover to baseline levels. NRDA is designed as a compensatory, not punitive process

9 Natural Capital & Ecosystem Services: What Are They and Why Do We Care?

10 Tools Used in NRDA to Quantify Ecosystem Services Dominated by two Equivalency Analysis approaches Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) Resource Equivalency Analysis (REA) These approaches assume that the utility change associated with environmental damage and subsequent restoration is proportional to changes in an ecologic metric (e.g., acres of habitat, number of birds, etc.)

11 Tools Used in NRDA to Quantify Ecosystem Services The approaches directly scale restoration projects to replace the services that were lost. Unlike other valuation methods, service-to-service scaling does not require quantification of lost services in monetary terms. At their simplest, these approaches amount to balancing a ledger with debits (both current and future injuries) on one side and credits (restoration) on the other

12 Services Provided by Habitat Interim Service Loss Restoration Gain Benefit of Primary Restoration Incident Primary Restoration Begins Full Recovery With Primary Restoration Full Natural Recovery Time HEA assumes that equivalent habitats will provide equivalent services, meaning that years of lost services can be compensated for by providing acres of additional habitat.

13 Resource Equivalency Analysis A REA responds to the question, What, but for the event, would have happened to the injured species? With REA, the services of the birds killed are quantified in physical units of bird-years. The selected compensation is scaled so that the quantity of replacement bird-years (credit) equals the quantity of lost bird-years (debit) in present value (PV) terms. to Results in ful compensation of the public for depletion of that individual or groups of individuals from the public trust, i.e., no net loss of birds.

14 The Importance of Stewardship In 2014, NOAA began incorporating long-term stewardship plans into their NRDA claims/settlements This ensures that the benefits from restorations continue to flow from restoration projects for years into the future The Commencement Bay Stewardship Collaborative is one of the first of examples this new policy (

15 Federal Perspectives on Mitigation DOI Secretarial Order Addressing Impacts of Climate Change on America s Water, Land, and Other Natural and Cultural Resources Among other things, sets out Landscape Conservation Cooperatives Presidential Memorandum: Establishes the America s Great Outdoors Initiative NOAA s Habitat Blueprint - provides a forward looking framework for NOAA to think and act strategically across programs and with partner organizations to address the growing challenge of coastal and marine habitat loss and degradation DOI Secretarial Order No Improving Mitigation Policies and Practices of the DOI EO call for Feds to work with states, tribes, and local governments to improve preparedness for the impacts of a changing climate Priority Agenda Enhancing the Climate Resilience of America s Natural Resources. (Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience) U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit (built by NOAA in response to EO 13653) Presidential Memorandum: Mitigating Impacts on Natural Resources from Development and Encouraging Related Private Investment. OMB Memorandum M-16-01: Directs agencies to integrate ecosystem services into decision making Proposed Revision to the USFWS Mitigation Policy.

16 2015 Presidential Memorandum Seeks to increase private investment in natural resource restoration by providing direction to ensure that Federal policies regarding the mitigation of harmful impacts are implemented consistently within agencies

17 In General The Presidential Memorandum States that it shall be the policy of NOAA and other agencies to "avoid and then minimize harmful effects to land, water, wildlife and other ecological resources" and to "ensure that any remaining harmful effects are effectively addressed, consistent with existing mission and legal authorities. Directs agencies to adopt a clear and consistent approach for avoidance, minimization of, and compensatory mitigation for, the impacts of their activities and the projects they approve. The Memorandum recognizes that, for some resources, avoidance is the only appropriate form of protection and that agencies should design policies to promote avoidance of impacts to these resources Encourages private investment in restoration and public-private partnerships and also encourages advance compensation approaches, including mitigation bank-based approaches, where mitigation is appropriate.

18 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Proposed, Revised Mitigation Policy Includes integration of all authorities (laws and regulations) that allow the Service to recommend or require the mitigation of impacts to fish and wildlife resources. Notably, the revised policy will include the Service s authorities under the Endangered Species Act, not included in the 1981 Policy, to conserve federally listed species and the ecosystems upon which they depend Establishes a set of guiding principles for Service-recommended mitigation across all Service programs, including a goal to improve (i.e., a net gain) or, at minimum, to maintain (i.e., no net loss) the current status of affected resources, whenever the situation merits and doing so is allowed by law Establishes a landscape-level approach that will integrate mitigation planning into broader, regional strategies for conserving species and habitats

19 OMB M Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Federal Decision Making Provides direction to agencies on incorporating ecosystem services into Federal planning and decision making. Directs agencies to develop and institutionalize policies to promote consideration of ecosystem services, where appropriate and practicable, in planning,.investments, and regulatory contexts Sets forth the process for development of implementation guidance and directs agencies to implement aforementioned policies and integrate assessments of ecosystem services into relevant programs and projects

20 Summary of the Federal Policy Evolution Over the past decade, the evolution of the Federal government s policies indicate support for: Landscape level integrated restoration/conservation Integration within and across agencies to achieve more effective and efficient restoration/conservation/mitigation Actions that avoid and then minimizes ecosystem impacts Mitigation banks in support of advance compensation and through this, private investment and public-private partnerships Ensuring long-term success for actions, and Utilization of natural capital ideas and concepts through the incorporation of ecosystem services in their planning

21 Implications for the Texas Coastal Exchange NRDA and other venues have developed valuation tools for and demonstrated the value and importance of natural capital Through existing public-private ventures and recent governmental focus there is clearly a basis for natural capital markets The degree to which science has valued some of these ecosystem services (in terms of carbon sequestration, resiliency, etc. similar to using comps ) will be critical in establishing the basis for cost between the seller and the buyer of these credits.

22 Thank You

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24 DWH NRDA - Restoration More information and the Final DARRP can be found at: oaa.gov/restorationplanning/gulf-plan/

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