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Bond AJ, O'Connor PJ, Cavagnaro TR. Carbonservation with Demonstrated Biodiversity and Carbon Gains: Carbon Can Pay But Biodiversity Must Lead. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2024:10.1007/s00267-023-01928-4. [PMID: 38195904 DOI: 10.1007/s00267-023-01928-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 12/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024]
Abstract
Land use has a critical role to play in both climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation, and increasingly there have been calls to integrate policies for concurrently meeting Paris Agreement commitments and the UN decade on ecosystem restoration 2021-2030. Currently however, investment activities have been dominated by climate change mitigation activities, including through the development of carbon markets (both voluntary and compliance markets). Whilst climate change mitigation is to be welcomed, the prioritization of carbon in avoided deforestation and reforestation can lead to suboptimal or negative outcomes for biodiversity. Restoration of degraded native vegetation may provide an opportunity for concurrent production of both carbon and biodiversity benefits, by harnessing existing carbon markets without the need to trade-off biodiversity outcomes. Here we demonstrate that carbon sequestered by restoring degraded temperate woodland can pay the price of the restored biodiversity. This is shown using conservative carbon prices in an established market (during both a voluntary and compliance market phase), and the restoration price revealed by a 10-year conservation incentive payment scheme. When recovery rates are high, market prices for carbon could pay the full price of restoration, with additional independent investment needed in cases where recovery trajectories are slower. Using carbon markets to fund restoration of degraded native vegetation thereby provides a solution for constrained resources and problematic trade-offs between carbon and biodiversity outcomes. Multi-attribute markets offer the potential to greatly increase the extent of restoration for biodiversity conservation, while providing an affordable source of carbon sequestration and enhancing economic benefits to landowners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthelia J Bond
- The Waite Research Institute, and The School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, The Waite Campus, PMB 1 Glen Osmond, Adelaide, SA, 5064, Australia.
- The Centre for Global Food and Resources, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia.
| | - Patrick J O'Connor
- The Centre for Global Food and Resources, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia
- The Environment Institute, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia
| | - Timothy R Cavagnaro
- The Waite Research Institute, and The School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, The Waite Campus, PMB 1 Glen Osmond, Adelaide, SA, 5064, Australia
- The Environment Institute, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia
- College of Science and Engineering, and Office of Graduate Research, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Portfolio, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, 5042, Australia
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Kindu M, Mai TLN, Bingham LR, Borges JG, Abildtrup J, Knoke T. Auctioning approaches for ecosystem services - Evidence and applications. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 853:158534. [PMID: 36075405 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2022] [Revised: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Auctions have attracted growing attention as bidding mechanisms for soliciting or allocating payments for a wide range of ecosystem services (ES). This paper reviews the latest scientific knowledge on ES auctioning approaches. Using systematically selected academic articles, we trace and discuss the development of ES auction literature across space, time, target ecosystem, and mechanism type. We integrate previous attempts to organize this body of work to produce a composite factor map of entry points to more specialized sub-literatures engaging with current issues in auction design and implementation. The results show that most academic work focuses on reverse auctions, where landowners bid their willingness to accept contracts to protect or promote ES provisioning, but we also locate several forward (i.e. beneficiaries bid their willingness to pay for ES) and mixed mechanisms. We critically analyze major advantages and challenges for each approach, emphasizing issues related to transaction costs and accessibility for participants and agencies. Overall, our findings suggest that ES auctions have a robust track record but remain administratively and logistically challenging. Further investment in open-source tools, shared infrastructure, and other efforts to make auctions more accessible to researchers, agencies, and participants alike is strongly indicated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengistie Kindu
- Institute of Forest Management, TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, D-85354 Freising, Germany.
| | - Trang Le Ngoc Mai
- Institute of Forest Management, TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, D-85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Logan Robert Bingham
- Institute of Forest Management, TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, D-85354 Freising, Germany; Forest Research Centre and Laboratory TERRA, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - José G Borges
- Forest Research Centre and Laboratory TERRA, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Jens Abildtrup
- AgroParisTech, CNRS, INRAE, BETA, Université de Lorraine, 54000 Nancy, France
| | - Thomas Knoke
- Institute of Forest Management, TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, D-85354 Freising, Germany
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