Trees in the balance: natural capital is on the accounting ledger, and it's not a moment too soon.From downtown Manhattan to the jungles of Panama, trees are finally taking center stage for their exceptional value. Sure they're valued as beautiful living things Living Things may refer to:
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In 1997, increased agricultural practices were taking a toll on New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of City's aging drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. system. New water-filtration plants would have cost $4 billion to $6 billion up front to build and $250 million a year to operate. Instead, the state is making a $350 million investment to buy land to prevent development and to pay farmers to reduce water pollution. That's a big savings that pays even bigger dividends like wildlife habitat, cleaner air, and increased tourism. In Panama, trees are being recognized as the way to save the canal, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. articles in The Economist and the New York Times. On a busy day more than 2 billion gallons of water are pumped into the Atlantic or Pacific oceans to allow ships to traverse the canal. But keeping enough water in the canal to guarantee ships passage has become a problem. Massive deforestation deforestation Process of clearing forests. Rates of deforestation are particularly high in the tropics, where the poor quality of the soil has led to the practice of routine clear-cutting to make new soil available for agricultural use. from agriculture and road building, and the logging that follows the opening of new roads, has reduced the ability of the forests that surround the canal to absorb and filter rainwater. In this example of natural capital, healthy forests are worth a great deal because they'll keep the canal open for business (each ship pays $65,000 to pass). But how do we put the financial value of trees on the books, so to speak, to justify an investment in Panama's reforestation Reforestation The reestablishment of forest cover either naturally or artificially. Given enough time, natural regeneration will usually occur in areas where temperatures and rainfall are adequate and when grazing and wildfires are not too frequent. ? One banker in London offers this idea: Get insurance companies to underwrite a 25-year bond that pays for reforestation. The insurance companies would ask clients who ship through the canal (think Wal-Mart, Toyota, etc.) to buy the bonds. These companies already insure against the canal's closing, so they'd get a discount on the forest bonds. Now we're talking forests with tangible financial worth and real earning power Earning power Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) divided by total assets. earning power 1. The earnings that an asset could produce under optimal conditions. For example, AT&T may currently be earning $2. ! The powerful value of trees is a message students around the country are learning and proving in their communities. Using AMERICAN FORESTS' GIS software This is a list of notable GIS software applications. See also the comparison of GIS software. Open source software Most widely used open source applications:
Faith-based organizations, many with long histories of respect for Mother Earth, are turning their beliefs into environmental action in their communities. In the cities of Salem, Oregon Salem (IPA: [ˈseɪ ləm̩]) is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. The district of West Salem lies in Polk County. ; Roanoke. Virginia: and Charlotte, North Carolina “Charlotte” redirects here. For other uses, see Charlotte (disambiguation). Charlotte is the largest city in the state of North Carolina and the 20th largest city in the United States. , trees are coming into their own as residents learn how a healthy urban forest can make development sustainable and help prevent flooding. And in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol last month, attendees of a conference co-sponsored by AMERICAN FORESTS envisioned landscape-scale strategies that promote conservation of forest ecosytems and other working landscapes through new kinds of public and private policies and initiatives. One hundred people from around the country and representing a range of disciplines participated in the discussions. The goal: a better understanding of how to develop effective markets for ecosystem services, and how those markets could be combined with existing strategies for conservation. The end result: larger-scale protection of wildland habitats and new sources of revenue to compensate private landowners and create incentives to protect open space. These innovative strategies come not a minute too soon. The recently released Millennium Ecosystem Assessment The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is a research program that focuses on ecosystem changes over the course of decades, and projecting those changes into the future. It was launched in 2001 with support from the United Nations by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. has warned that 60 percent of the world's ecosystem functioning has been degraded. It's time that we started appreciating what nature does for us. Otherwise, we may end up as people who know the price of everything but the value of nothing. DEBORAH GANGLOFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR |
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