Market-Based Approaches to Aquatic Habitat Protection

The wetland and associated upland habitats that Ducks Unlimited works to conserve provide multiple benefits to society including improved flood control, clean water, recreational opportunities, and climate regulation. As a whole, these benefits are often referred to as "ecological goods and services." However, there is disagreement regarding the environmental and economic value of ecosystem services. Although awareness of the benefits provided by natural resources is rapidly improving, ecosystem capital and its flow are still poorly understood. Many efforts to inform decision-makers of current versus future costs and benefits of conservation now involve applying scientific knowledge to economic principles. In some cases, this has lead to the formation of environmental markets which translates the consequences of our choices to impact natural systems into comparable units of impact on human well-being. These markets may provide new financial opportunities for landowners to practice conservation on private lands.  Environmental markets include systems for buying and selling ecosystem services that have been converted into standardized units of trade. Restoring, protecting and enhancing habitats provide ecological resource values that may qualify as environmental “credits” that can be sold in various trading markets. The regulatory drivers that create and sustain these markets and the frameworks for transacting credits continue to evolve.  Environmental credit trading has been established or is emerging for markets such as greenhouse gas emissions, water quality, habitat and wetland mitigation banking.  Habitat restoration and protection can help mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration while helping wildlife and people adapt to its effects. Properly implemented wetland mitigation banks can provide an efficient and ecologically resilient solution to unavoidable wetland losses. Conservation practices on private lands that improve watershed health may be eligible for credits that can be sold to regulated pollution sources through water quality credit trading programs.  Understanding the regulatory and scientific underpinnings of these markets and the role of various stakeholders is key to successful participation and positive conservation outcomes.