Nature Markets and Saving Nature
Conservation and restoration efforts can be effective but are currently not sufficient to halt and reverse biodiversity loss at scale. Alongside traditional funding (from governments or philanthropy), conservationists are increasingly looking to nature markets (where credits representing nature outcomes are traded) to help bridge the funding gap. Landscape Ecology UK organise the Annual Bunce Lecture in honour of the late Bob Bunce, to encourage discussion and to learn from critical leaders in the emerging field of nature markets.
Our keynote speaker, Julia Jones, Professor in Conservation Science at Bangor University, drew on her work exploring measurement challenges with both biodiversity credits and avoided deforestation carbon credits to highlight some of the key challenges with these markets. Using England’s market in biodiversity units, which supports the requirement for new developments to deliver 10% uplift in biodiversity, Julia talked about quantification challenges. Using the scandal in the voluntary market in avoided deforestation carbon credits, she discussed the challenge in detecting whether an investment has delivered the outcome relative to a credible counterfactual of no investment. She also explained why, despite these challenges, she remains sceptically hopeful that these markets can contribute to nature recovery.
Panellists
Rob Jordan leads the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Natural Capital Marketplace
Catherine Howell is Head of Natural Capital Developments at the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority
Ross Johnston is Head of Natural Capital Policy and Valuation at The Scottish Government
Julia McCarthy is a research associate at The University of Edinburgh working on different aspects of Nature Finance