Talk:Conservation economy

History, Concept & Proponents
ConservationEconomy.Net "Pattern Map: A virtual guide to the sustainability patterns that provide a frame for developing a conservation economy" webpage
 * a clickable map providing the categories and model upon which a conservation economy might be 'arranged'

"About Ecotrust", from Ecotrust website

Ecotrust’s mission is to inspire fresh thinking that creates economic opportunity, social equity and environmental well-being. Ecotrust is headquartered in Portland .. Ecotrust's many innovations include co-founding the world's first environmental bank, starting the world's first ecosystem investment fund, creating a range of programs in fisheries, forestry, food, farms and children's health, and developing new scientific and information tools to improve social, economic and environmental decision-making. Ecotrust works locally .. and it takes inspiration from the wisdom of Native and First Nations. Over nearly 20 years, Ecotrust has converted $60 million in grants into more than $300 million in capital for local people, businesses, and organizations from Alaska to California.

The history of Ecotrust is a story of innovation, adaptation and evolution. A committed group of individuals led by Spencer Beebe founded Ecotrust in 1991 in Portland. Previously, Beebe co-founded Conservation International and served as the president of The Nature Conservancy International. Beebe and his colleagues founded Ecotrust with the goal of bringing to America the best sustainability and conservation ideas emerging around the world. The original Ecotrust mission to foster conservation-based development in local communities from Alaska to California eventually evolved into a more ambitious mission to help lead an American economic revolution by demonstrating new business models based on economic, social and environmental principles.

Ecotrust's webpage "Natural Sense: The Conservation Economy Emerges, 1991–2001 by Spencer B. Beebe and Edward C. Wolf" webpage

In the conservation economy — a society whose economic activity results in environmental and social improvement — distinct channels of economic and community activity combine in creative and unprecedented ways. Slowly and almost imperceptibly, people and places are transformed by a new kind of entrepreneurship.

We have created three strong and independent affiliates: Ecotrust Canada, a Canadian charity supporting the emergence of a conservation economy in British Columbia; ShoreBank Pacific, a regulated commercial bank helping small businesses profit while improving social and environmental performance; and Shorebank Enterprise Pacific, a nonprofit business support organization offering capital and information to rural businesses that benefit community and landscape. We work in close partnership, guided by a common vision of the conservation economy....Our work brings the principles of community development together with the values of the conservation movement

Ecotrust Canada's "Building the Conservation Economy" webpage

We are driven by the triple-bottom-line, where economic opportunity improves rather than degrades social and environmental conditions. Some people call it sustainability – we call it the conservation economy. A conservation economy provides meaningful work and good livelihoods, supports vibrant communities and the recognition of Aboriginal rights and title, and conserves and restores the environment.

Ecotrust Canada builds the capacity of communities, institutions and businesses to participate in the conservation economy; raises and brokers capital to accelerate the transition to a conservation economy; and connects conservation entrepreneurs to each other, and to the marketplace. We champion the conservation economy.

Greenpeace Canada's "A conservation economy" webpage"

Through our Rainforest Solution Project with environmental partners Forest Ethics, Sierra Club of Canada – BC Chapter and Rainforest Action Network we are hoping to use the global spotlight we have created to help build a diversified, sustainable local economy (PDF).

Some examples of a new conservation economy have already taken seed in British Columbia, and many of them are First Nations owned and operated. Klemtu tourism offers tours to see the elusive white spirit bears in pristine areas of the Great Bear Rainforest, Taku Wild Salmon creates high end smoked salmon products and Clayoquot Sound Wildfoods harvests forest mushrooms and berries creating jams, jellies and other gourmet spreads.

Forestry can also play a roll in the conservation economy – Iisaak is a Nuu-chah-nulth logging company that offers only Forest Stewardship Council certified wood, ensuring that their impacts on the rainforests of Clayoquot Sound are minimal. Greenpeace is also a proud supporter of the Canadian Eco-Lumber Co-op, which helps source Forest Stewardship Council certified wood to customers around the world.

Yale School of Foretry and Environmental Studies "Combining Community Development and Indigenous Culture to Promote a Conservation Economy" by Heather Millar (2007)


 * Attributes the conservation economy model to Steve Bebe, in setting up the original Ecotrust with the Salmon Nations, leading to a Canadian version also focused on Salmon fisheries ... then makes broad assertion that the model is spreading worldwide .. zooming in to focus particularly on proposal for an EcoTrust Australia .. for which a sterring committee was formed .. where it particularly discusses Rosemary Hill and the Australian Conservation Foundation's work and hope for North Australia

But the Ecotrust model – integrating indigenous culture, economic development and ecology on a regional scale, using interdisciplinary teams and local financing – has begun to travel far beyond its native realm of temperate rainforest, abalone and yearly salmon runs. The Australian Conservation Foundation has concluded that the approach could be adapted to work in that country’s far north, and is in the final stages of laying the groundwork for an Ecotrust Australia. In addition, organizers in places as far-flung as Mexico and the Carpathian region of Eastern Europe have begun to study Ecotrust, with an eye to adapting to its methods – such as creating financing coalitions to fund native ownership of sustainable businesses – to local problems such as poverty and deforestation. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of conservation organizers around the world have begun to study the way Ecotrust disseminates information about conservation methods to native communities.

Gill, Ian (September 2008) "Achieving a Conservation Economy in Indigenous Communities: a Canadian Model for greening and growing local economies"

Australia
Wilderness Society & Queensland Conservation Council (2004) "Caring for Queensland’s Wild Rivers Indigenous rights and interests in the proposed Wild Rivers Act"

PRINCIPLES OF natural and cultural conservation should also define the type and direction of economic activity associated with wild rivers. This is not to ignore the practical issues associated with meeting material needs and community development – it is about investing in opportunities to build a new economy - a ‘conservation economy’ - to achieve lasting environmental protection and economic inclusion, especially for those living in the remote and largely intact landscapes of the State.

The development of a conservation economy requires economic arrangements of all kinds to be gradually redesigned so that over the long-term they “decrease economic dependence on activities that deplete natural or social capital” and in the shorter-term they make investments with economic, social, and environmental returns. It is possible to harness market forces and changes in laws, taxes, and policies to favour a conservation economy.9 It will be important to identify systematically the current and future uses of the environment for economic activities, as either - 1. compatible with the ongoing maintenance and protection of ecological processes 2. compatible with some modification and reform to the economic activity 3. incompatible with the protection of ecological processes

Speech by Ian Gill on achieving a "conservation economy" in Australia (October 2008)

elf-determination is critical. Good governance is critical. But I must say that on a visit last week to a remote community in Northern Australia, I saw something pretty discouraging. I saw a community that is getting a huge amount of money through a benefits agreement with an industrial concern, which has set up a corporation to manage that money. I saw nothing culturally relevant in any of this. In fact, I was told by their earnest non-Indigenous adviser that the corporation is run according to the rules of the Corporations Act in Australia. Minutes are taken, live on PowerPoint, before the Indigenous people’s very eyes. However, this same adviser had just finished telling me that every adult person in the community was both illiterate and innumerate. So whose agenda does this serve? Is this what the framers of the Corporations Act had in mind?

I have in mind something less corporate. Perhaps something more cooperative – modeled along the lines of the cooperative economic experience of the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. Is there not a governance model based on principles of the gift exchange, on reciprocity, that is more relevant to Indigenous communities than trying to find a cultural way to build a corporation, or a corporate way to rebuild a culture? I don’t know the answer to this, but I believe it is a question that deserves an answer.

In two trips – last week in the Kimberley and Kakadu, and three years ago to Kimberley and Cape York – I’ve seen some discouraging things in your Indigenous communities, and I’ve seen great potential. There are tremendous reserves of resilience based, I believe, on retained culture, and on conserved country. While I haven’t seen that much to inspire me in respect to new economic models, I think you have many of the conditions that I believe are essential to building a conservation economy.

[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb4727/is_3_36/ai_n30935070/pg_4/?tag=content;col1 '''Justin McCaul "Northern Australia revealed: special Habitat feature". Habitat Australia.''' ]


 * Article gives a run down of the hopes and aspirations associated with the Australian Conservation Foundations 'North Australia' campaign to see a conservation economy providing for indigenous rights particularly established across the North of Australia, including participation in Cape York tenure resolution group, announcing proposal to establish an EcoTrust, plus concrete examples investing in tourism with 6 tourist providers in the Kimberleys

ACF's Northern Australia Program's vision for the region is one of a better future for people and the natural environment....We want to see strong policies and measures that will protect the priceless natural and cultural values of northern Australia, and for there to be greater recognition of the rights and responsibilities of Traditional Owners and their role in environmental management. Most importantly, we want to see governments, industries and communities support a culture and conservation economy framework for northern Australia.

Hill, R et al (January 2008) A Cultural and Conservation Economy for Northern Australia: A Proof of Concept Study

The Canadian Ecotrust approach to fostering sustainability through their conservation economy model was investigated and found to be highly relevant to the emergence of a cultural and conservation economy in Northern Australia. Key aspects of their approach that are most applicable to the Northern Australia

An analysis comparing the Ecotrust model with Northern Australia organisations and services identified a number of key gaps in principles, including: • no organisation is currently in existence with a similar independence to Ecotrust; • no organisation utilises a quadruple-bottom line sustainability approach for business development; • the community development approach is not strongly utilised in addressing Indigenous issues or the cultural, environmental and economic aspects of sustainability; • the centrality of the relationship-based approach in achieving effective engagement strategies is strongly recognised but not well-implemented; and • the recognition of Aboriginal rights, culture and title does not extend strongly into current business development approaches

In addition, many challenges for Indigenous communities were identified for accessing the services that are provided in the Ecotrust model: • while an impressive number of services appear available from government and other agencies, the community case studies highlight that there appears little connection between these services and Indigenous communities, where a great undersupply is evident; • capacity for natural and cultural resource related community-based and country-based planning is hampered by changes in government funding priorities, and lack of stable organisational capacity in relevant planning; • project support is available across a number of sectors, but this is generally through a number of different organisations which often have their main offices in centres outsidethe region; • while networks within the Indigenous, environment, business, research sectors are quite strong, networks between these sectors and with governments and the philanthropic sector are weak; • sustainability information in Northern Australia is relatively undeveloped; • conflict management skills are poor in many communities, leading to a lack of cohesion and a derailing of potential initiatives; • access to support from the philanthropic sector is very limited; and • access to finance does not appear sufficient to meet the community needs.

The priority sectors for developing a cultural and conservation economy in Northern Australia were found to be primarily in ecosystem services, Indigenous arts and cultural industries,and visitor services. Pastoralism, renewable energy and community infrastructure, social and lifestyle services, and some forms of low-impact aquaculture were also identified as important.

British Columbia
Vancouver Sun's (June 2009) "The conservation economy: A new kind of capitalism Ecotrust Canada takes the lead in financing a new green movement with business at its core"

There’s a new kind of capitalism sprouting in the British Columbia rainforest, small and focused on the environment as much as the economy, growing in the places where forest companies once reigned. ... It’s called the conservation economy. It’s not big industry, and it’s not save-the-trees environmentalism. It’s a third way of approaching the ecological riches of the B.C. coast, investing in small, local and sustainable ventures that often can’t get through the front door of Canada’s mainstream financial institutions....One organization, Ecotrust Canada, which is leading the way in financing this new green movement.

South Africa

 * Cape Nature's "About CapeNature" webpage

CapeNature is a public institution with the statutory responsibility for biodiversity conservation in the Western Cape. It is governed by the Western Cape Nature Conservation Board Act 15 of 1998 and mandated to: promote and ensure nature conservation; render services and provide facilities for research and training; and generate income.

CapeNature is driven by the vision to establish a successful ‘Conservation Economy’ - embraced by all citizens of the Western Cape and to transform biodiversity conservation into a key component of local economic development in the province. Our own definition of a conservation economy is an economy in which key principles and practices of biodiversity conservation have been fully integrated into all forms and levels of economic activity.

Guyana
[http://www.physorg.com/pdf110735078.pdf "Wai Wai choose conservation economy for traditional Amazon territory." PHYSorg.com. 4 Oct 2007 ]

Three years after gaining formal title to their traditional territory in the northern Amazon, the Wai Wai people of Guyana have achieved another milestone when the region was declared the nation’s first Community Owned Conservation Area. Under regulations passed by the Guyana parliament, the Wai Wai community formally designated their land a protected area and adopted a management plan, developed with the support of Conservation International (CI), for the 625,000-hectare (1.54-million-acre) tract on the northern border of Brazil’s Pará state.

As managers of a Community Owned Conservation Area (COCA), the 204 Wai Wai of Konashen District are building a “conservation economy” based on the sustainable use of their natural resources. The plan will create jobs from conservation activities, such as newly trained ara-biologists working with researchers to assess the territory’s flora and fauna, and local rangers patrolling the area. Other economic activities include ecotourism and expanding the traditional Wai Wai craft business.

Bruceanthro (talk) 11:27, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

History

 * Seireeni, Richard (2008) Wall Street vs. Green Street: Who is Doing Better?

Other Links

 * Katoomba Group (2007) Conservation Economy Backgrounder


 * The Vancouver Sun's "The conservation economy: A new kind of capitalism" : Ecotrust Canada takes the lead in financing a new green movement with business at its core


 * Ian Gill's "Achieving a ‘conservation economy’ in indigenous communities: a Canadian model for greening and growing local economies

Conservation Economics: A Field of Economics?
Where it has been suggested that 'conservation economics' might not be a genuine field of economics .. some references have been found as follows:


 * Wildlife Defenders webpage reports they have a conservaion economics program


 * Heady, Earl O. (1950) Some Fundamentals of Conservation Economics and Policy,

Bruceanthro (talk) 12:42, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

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