By Boyd Norton

First published by Africa Geographic www.africageographic.com

Michael Frome of Wisconsin (USA) is a passionate protector of America's National Parks and a prolific conservation writer. Having written nearly 20 books--Strangers in High Places: The Story of the Great Smoky Mountains, Regreening the National Parks, Green Ink, and Rebel on the Road: And Why I was Never Neutral--among them. He has also contributed to or been a columnist for several magazines as well: Field & Stream, Changing Times, Women's Day, American Forests, Living Wilderness, Defenders of Wildlife, and Western Outdoors. Frome has been a visiting professor at numerous universities both in the US and abroad. The University of Idaho established an award in his honor--the Michael Frome Scholarship for excellence in conservation writing. Former Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson declared in Congress: "No writer in America has more persistently and effectively argued for the need of national ethics of environmental stewardship than Michael Frome." We salute Michael Frome, the 2011 Wilderness Writing Award recipient. More information about the award.

By Carolyne Tomno

A rare and secretive female pygmy Hippo  recently died at the Nairobi Safari Walk in Nairobi Kenya The  29 year old Hippo named Elizabeth, was part of a pair of pygmy Hippos donated by the President of Liberia, the late William Tubman, as a gift to Kenyans through the late President, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, in the 1970s. The  death was attributed to an age-related bout of pneumonia, According to a post-mortem examination report prepared by Dr Edward Kariuki, a Kenya Wildlife Service Veterinary Doctor, the unique wild animal succumbed to a bacterial infection at the animal welfare facility.

Unlike the Nile hippo, which is indigenous to East Africa, the Pygmy Hippo is found in isolated pockets of West African forests  and swamps of the Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and possibly Nigeria and Guinea.

Pygmy hippos are severely threatened due to deforestation and bush meat hunting with an estimated 2,000-3,000 individuals remaining, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN).  Pygmy hippos were unknown outside of West Africa until the 19th century. Introduced to zoos in the early 20th century, they breed well in captivity and the vast majority of research is derived from zoo specimens.

According to IUCN, the survival of the species in captivity is more assured than in the wild.  Pygmy hippos are primarily threatened by loss of habitat, as forests are logged and converted to farm land, and are also vulnerable to poaching for meat and natural predators. The name Hippopotamus came from the Greek, and it meant horse. They called it the river horse but they are more closely related to the pig then a horse.

Two hippo species are found in Africa. The large hippo, found in East Africa, which occurs in large numbers in south of the Sahara.  The other, much smaller species of Hippo is the pygmy Hippopotamus  Which is limited West Africa. It is a shy, solitary forest dweller, and now rare.  At first glance, the pygmy hippopotamus looks like a mini version of its larger relative, the  Nile hippopotamus (also known as the river, or common, hippopotamus).

But on closer examination there are other differences besides size. The pygmy hippo has adaptations for living in the water but is much less aquatic than the Nile hippo.  Not only is the pygmy hippo much smaller, it is much more rare, found only in the interior forests in parts of West Africa They are more pig-like in shape than Nile

Hippopotamuses, with proportionately smaller heads and proportionately longer legs and necks. 

Parts of the  rare   pygmy  hippo which died recently , have been specially preserved for the mounting and stuffing in readiness for taxidermy to keep Elizabeth at the Nairobi Safari Walk museum for posterity.    The popular Elizabeth was part of a pair of pygmy hippos donated by former President William Tubman of Liberia as a gift to Kenyans through the President, the late Mzee  Jomo Kenyatta, in the 1970s. She leaves behind Bob, a hippo grandson, aged about nine years. Other relatives of Elizabeth are found in Mt Kenya Game Ranch and Oj Jogi Ranch in the expansive wildlife-rich Laikipia County.

 Unlike the Nile hippo, which is indigenous to East Africa, the Pygmy hippo is found in isolated pockets of West African forests  and swamps of the Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and possibly Nigeria and Guinea. Pygmy hippos are severely threatened due to deforestation and bush meat hunting with an estimated 2,000-3,000 individuals remaining, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Pygmy hippos are primarily threatened by loss of habitat, as forests are logged and converted to farm land, and are also vulnerable to poaching for meat and natural predators. 

The name Hippopotamus came from the Greek, and it meant horse. They called it the river horse but they are more closely related to the pig then a horse. Two hippo species are found in Africa. The large hippo, found in East Africa, which occurs in large numbers in south of the Sahara.  The other, much smaller species of hippo is the pygmy hippopotamus is limited West Africa, it is a shy, solitary forest dweller, and now rare.  

At first glance, the pygmy hippopotamus looks like a mini version of its larger relative, the  Nile hippopotamus (also known as the river, or common, hippopotamus). But on closer examination there are other differences besides size. The pygmy hippo has adaptations for living in the water but is much less aquatic than the Nile hippo.  Not only is the pygmy hippo much smaller, it is much more rare, found only in the interior forests in parts of West Africa They are more pig-like in shape than Nile hippopotamuses, with proportionately smaller heads and proportionately longer legs and necks.  The pygmy hippo is reclusive and nocturnal.

Elizabeth signified a diplomatic bridge between Kenya and Liberia and her passing was a sad moment. However, the remaining siblings are living testimonies of the friendly relations between Kenya and Liberia. In her lifetime, her early years in Kenya were spent in the Nairobi Animal Orphanage as it was called then. It was transferred to a private conservancy in Ol Jogi in Laikipia to pave way for the modern Nairobi Safari Walk.

While at Ol Jogi, Elizabeth gave birth to a number of offspring, which she has left behind. Her return to the refurbished Nairobi safari Walk was a joyous occasion, not only to her handlers but to the many fans, to whom she had endeared herself. Until her death, she was a star attraction at the Nairobi Safari Walk where she enjoyed the prime of place in the first enclosure as one enters the captive animal husbandry facility.

Pygmy hippos are severely threatened due to deforestation and bush meat hunting with an estimated 3,000 individuals remaining, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN).  

Pygmy hippos were unknown outside of West Africa until the 19th century. Introduced to zoos in the early 20th century, they breed well in captivity and the vast majority of research is derived from zoo specimens. According to IUCN, the survival of the species in captivity is more assured than in the wild.

At first glance, the pygmy hippopotamus looks like a mini version of its larger relative, the  Nile hippopotamus (also known as the river, or common, hippopotamus). But on closer examination there are other differences besides size. The pygmy hippo has adaptations for living in the water but is much less aquatic than the Nile hippo.  Not only is the pygmy hippo much smaller, it is much more rare, found only in the interior forests in parts of West Africa. They are more pig-like in shape than Nile hippopotamuses, with proportionately smaller heads and proportionately longer legs and necks.  The pygmy hippo is reclusive and nocturnal.  

By ILCW member Simon Jackson 

I was seven-years-old when I was lucky enough to discover my
passion for bears and learned first hand, through a lemonade stand and a couple
of letters in support of protecting Alaska’s Kodiak bears, that each person – no
matter their age – can make a difference for all life. It was the most important lesson I ever
learned and it was the foundation from which I built my involvement in the
quest to give a voice to the spirit bear – through my organization, the Spirit
Bear Youth Coalition – at the age of 13. 
I believe that every campaign – much like life – is
ninety-nine percent hard work and about one percent good luck. My efforts ran
into roadblocks every step of the way. Teachers didn’t want their students
getting engaged in politics. My parents were nervous about how this campaign
would affect my studies. I lost my friends, not because they didn’t support me,
but because saving a bear was different. However, I believe strongly that if
you believe in your message and stay the course, no challenge is
insurmountable.
On those dark days when all I wanted to do was give up – to
not go through the hell that was my high school life or deal with the ugly
politics of the issue – I’d remember: it wasn’t about me, it was about a bear –
a bear that had no idea what was in store for its future. If I gave up on this
bear, I would have to be prepared to grow up in a world where this bear
wouldn’t exist – something I could never do. And it wasn’t that I was the best
equipped or the smartest person to lead this fight, but I was one of the most
passionate and I knew, more than anything else, this bear needed – deserved – a
passionate defender that wouldn’t capitulate to political whims or issue
fatigue. So I always kept going.
Finally, that one percent of good luck came knocking at the
door: Time Magazine had selected me as one of their 60 Heroes for the Planet,
one of only six young people selected from around the world. I didn’t – and
still don’t – think I’m a hero, but I gladly accepted the honor for what it
was: an acknowledgement that young people can make a difference and that their
voices, in these issues, do count. 
The recognition, seemingly overnight, transformed the Youth
Coalition.  It gave us the ability to
speak to government with credibility and the opportunity to share our message
with the world.  The issue went from the
wilderness of public awareness to the forefront of boardrooms, cabinet meetings
and the public eye. What began with 700 hundred letters from a middle school in
Vancouver became the most supported conservation initiative in Canadian
history. And with support coming in from all corners of the globe, the issue’s
varied stakeholders, including the Youth Coalition, began working with the BC
government to create a sustainable future for the BC coast and, in the doing, the
spirit bear. 
Today, the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition spans more than 75 countries
and enjoys the support of more than 6 million young people, all of whom have
helped protect of two-thirds of the spirit bear’s last intact habitat. We’ve
reunited the team responsible for Lion King to help us produce The Spirit Bear:
a major CGI Hollywood animated movie. When released to theaters worldwide, the
movie will ensure a portion of every ticket sold goes directly back toward helping
save its namesake by investing in local communities to ensure no one is saddled
with the burden of conserving this bear. And if we can create a meaningful
sanctuary for the spirit bear – free from trophy hunting, inclusive of the
unprotected third of its critical wilderness, and protected from proposed oil
tanker traffic through its waters – we know that this remarkable subspecies
will forever be wild and free.
 The journey from middle school letter writing campaign to
our forthcoming Hollywood animated movie has been both remarkable and humbling,
but began with that belief in a single, but powerful idea: that each person can
make a difference.
 Anyone could have done what I’ve done for any issue that they
believe in – whether it’s trying to protect a peregrine falcon’s nest in their
neighborhood or trying to rid the world of cancer, there are simply no
insignificant endeavors. Every time someone stands up to help improve the lot
of others, they are helping to create a better world. I was driven by my
passion and the good fortune of knowing, thanks to my luck with the lemonade
stand at the age of seven, that I could succeed. And in creating an
organization that has united the unengaged teenager in New York City with the
isolated student in rural Klemtu, British Columbia with the voiceless child in
the war-torn suburbs of Baghdad, Iraq, in order to give a voice to a creature
that did not have one, I’d like to think we helped create a mechanism of hope.
 I believe our greatest challenge must be to illustrate that
the greatest sin is not trying and that by trying, together - as one voice -
our dreams are possible and our missions are most certainly winnable. After
all, we are the voices for the sick, the poor, the children, the dreamers - and
the bears. It is our most important endeavor and our greatest tool for a better
tomorrow.
For me, it begins by saving this undeniably, irreplaceable
bear and if together we can succeed in saving the spirit bear, we will have succeeded
in something far greater: We will have been able to prove that a young person
with no remarkable skills, or intellect, but simply with a passion, can take
hold of a cause and unite the world.      
And that’s the power of one.
Simon Jackson is the founder and chairman of the volunteer,
youth-run Spirit Bear Youth Coalition and is the Executive Producer of THE
SPIRIT BEAR – the forthcoming CGI animated movie.  For his efforts, he has been named a Hero for
the Planet by Time Magazine and was the inspiration for a recent made-for-TV
movie – Spirit Bear: The Simon Jackson Story. www.spiritbearyouth.org

ILCW member, Fitrian Ardiansyah, Canberra

From the Jakarta Post, Mon, 12/05/2011 8:04 PM

The global climate change negotiations, underway from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9 in Durban, South Africa, once again undoubtedly highlights a fundamental question as to whether countries around the world will reach agreed solutions to tackle climate change.

It is also an appropriate event to assess the involvement of developing countries like Indonesia, and particularly to understand whether their involvement in this UN climate conference will significantly contribute to a successful outcome.

Durban, hosting the 17th session of the Conference of Parties (COP-17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), will certainly pick up what has been left at last year’s UN climate change negotiations in Cancún, Mexico, and the subsequent inter-sessional meetings.

The big remaining challenge, however, is to see whether governments involved in Durban will build on the progress achieved in Cancún or withdraw from this promising path and allow short-term national interests to shroud the already exhaustive negotiations.

The Cancún Agreements represent key steps forward, forming the basis for the largest collective effort to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with national plans captured formally at international levels under the banner of UNFCCC, in a mutually accountable way.

The Agreements, among other things, bring about the most comprehensive package ever agreed to by governments to help developing nations deal with climate change and lay the foundation to build their own sustainable futures.

The package encompasses finance (Green Climate Fund and fast-start financing), the Cancún Adaptation Framework, a Technology Mechanism (to support action on mitigation and adaptation, and speed up for low-emission economies) and a formal incorporation of REDD+ (stating clearly that it is not only about reducing emissions but also halting and reversing forest loss).

It is, therefore, critical for governments involved in the negotiations, especially Indonesia, to lock in the progress as stated in the Cancún Agreements and moreover push further for the agreements to be implemented.

Indonesia, as a resource-rich country striving to develop its economy, alleviate poverty and at the same time deal with climate change, has a lot at stake getting involved in these climate change negotiations.

For this country, for instance, it is critical to negotiate the further implementation of the Cancún Adaptation Framework, firstly in ensuring the establishment of the Adaptation Committee.

The establishment of this committee will send a strong signal to vulnerable countries affected by climate change, including Indonesia, that governments around the world are serious to help these countries confronting the increasingly dangerous impacts of climate change.

Indonesia needs to also work hard, with other parties, to negotiate and urge the realization of fast-start finance and Green Climate Fund. 

The fast-start finance is pledges made by developed country parties to mobilize new and additional resources, amounting to US$30 billion for the period 2010-2012, to help mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

The Green Climate Fund was decided in Cancún to support projects, programs, policies and other activities in developing countries using thematic funding windows. 

With a short-term challenge of financial crisis being faced by a number of developed countries, negotiations on finance and its realization are highly likely to be difficult ones.

Indonesia and other developing countries thus have a challenging task to remind developed countries about their promise, the progress made in achieving the goal of this financing and procedures to access these resources.

Specific to the Green Climate Fund, it is necessary for Indonesia to work together with other tropical forest nations as well as like-minded countries to lobby for a special window for REDD+ under this fund.

REDD+ has been initiated and piloted in tropical forest nations such as Indonesia. In fact in this country the government has produced several policies and strategies to guide REDD+ development and implementation, including the introduction of the moratorium of new permits to convert forests and peatlands to other land uses. 

Such policies, strategies and relevant regulations may not be sufficient to transform current land use changes and practices, which result in the reduction of deforestation.

Tackling deforestation involves different actors, sectors, as well as layers of governments. These entities are known to have competing interests over land use. Without the provision of clear incentives, it is a Herculean task to persuade them to change the patterns of land use in Indonesia.

A special window of funding for REDD+ at a global level would certainly provide more than a moral boost for tropical forest nations to advance their REDD+ development at a national level and on the ground.

Adding to already tough negotiations on finance, Indonesia and other developing countries are required to advocate parties at the Durban conference not to forget the importance of identifying the sources for long-term finance, which are needed to cut GHG emissions and to support adaptation efforts of vulnerable countries.

Climate change is going to be a long-term phenomenon and countries like Indonesia will indeed suffer if actions in mitigation and adaptation are formulated only for a short time frame. If there is no indication in which resources are allocated to fight climate change over a long period, reducing carbon emissions and creating a sustainable future will be merely a dream for global communities.

With discussions on the need for long-term commitments and actions on climate change, Durban is seen as crucial to produce an agreement or at least a convincing direction toward a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol. 

The first commitment period of the Protocol, which regulates the commitment of developed countries to cut their GHG emissions, will end in 2012. Hence, it is urgent for Indonesia and other countries to achieve real progress on this matter. 

The agreement on second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol is not only important to demonstrate a strong commitment among developed countries in significantly reducing their emissions, but it can also help persuade big emerging economies and other countries to set out a clear mandate for a comprehensive legally binding 
agreement. 

In Durban, the climate talks are at a crossroads, and governments, including that of Indonesia, and other parties have a lot of work to do to demonstrate to the world that they are serious about addressing dangerous climate change. 

The costs of climate change, socially, environmentally and economically, are high and will be higher for the world and this country. A delay to act will prove costly.

Therefore, Indonesia’s delegations have no choice but to commit to continuous hard work and provide real leadership to guarantee a successful outcome in Durban’s climate negotiations.

Fitrian Ardiansyah is a doctoral candidate at the Australian National University, and the recipient of the Australian Leadership Award and Allison Sudradjat Award.

November 20, 2011 - Mogadishu, Somalia

What a historic day for Somali media activities as the Somali Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (SOMESHA) organized a one day national media conference for expanding media coverage on climate change.
The conference was held November 20 at Tre-piano Building conference room in Mogadishu, Somalia. The conference was organized by SOMESHA in collaboration with the African Federation of Environmental Journalists and supported by the International Federation of Environmental Journalist (IFEJ). Among the media represented at the meeting were from 20 media stations nationwide including TV, Radio, Newspapers and journalists associations.
"We have the right to set up how we can play our role as there are a great many environmental journalists around the globe who continually face a struggle to fairly report on issues that should be disseminated to a wider audience" said Daud Abdi Daud, SOMESHA Secretary General.
During the one-day conference, the journalists discussed biodiversity, climate change, droughts, water issues, and urban environmental problems in mega-cities, environmental journalism education, broadcast journalism and investigative reporting in newspapers.
Abdulahi Mohamed Shirwa, who heads the National Climate and Disasters Management Network, also said "Now you need to express the destruction of your land as your people are continuing to die every hour due to famine although the famine displaced people started returning back to their home regions after rains started".
Mr. Shirwa also briefed the participants on the humanitarian aid that Somalia's national climate and disaster management agency has so far handled all over Somalia and its future plans to help the people affected by famine.
It was July 20 when the United Nations declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia owing to the worst drought in decades, and appealed for urgent resources to assist millions of people in desperate need of help. It is the first time since 1991-92 that the UN has declared famine in a part of Somalia.
For more information contact:
Somali Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (SOMESHA), email: somesha2010@yahoo.com, or website: www.somesha.wordpr.

This article originally ran in The Jakarta Post, Sunday 7 August 2011
By ILCW member Fitrian Ardiansyah
 
The Ramon Magsaysay Award 2011 (considered as Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize), recently given to two Indonesians, clearly acknowledges that there are leaders in this country who significantly bring about positive changes to the environment.

Indonesia is a resource-rich country but is striving to develop its economy, alleviate poverty and at the same time secure energy, reduce deforestation and tackle climate change.

One of the two award recipients was Tri Mumpuni, acknowledged for her work leading IBEKA (the People-Centered Business and Economic Institute) in building community-run hydropower plants in rural Indonesia.

The award for Tri would offer a sense of optimism, particularly to approximately 70-80 million people, or almost one-third of Indonesia’s population, who currently lack access to electricity. These people mostly live in rural areas and the outer islands.

Developing micro-hydro power plants as a renewable energy resource serves the objectives of advancing this country’s economy, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and alleviating poverty (for example by providing basic access to electricity).

IBEKA has demonstrated that by building 60 micro-hydropower plants with a capacity to generate 5 to 250 KW of electricity and provide electricity to 500,000 people in rural Indonesia, it has contributed to achieving these objectives.

This organization works closely with local communities to ensure that projects are sustainable in the long term and that electrification will have a maximum impact on the development of the communities. This success gives true hope to millions of Indonesians, in that such a complex challenge can be overcome.

The award is also expected to convince the government to intensify its current work in renewable energy development.

The central government has already had a general energy policy that advocates the diversification of energy sources and conversion from coal and petroleum-based fuels to renewable energy sources in a bid to reduce emissions.

However, the promotion of renewable resource development over the last five years has moved at a snail’s pace. At present, renewable energy production (hydropower, geothermal and biomass) makes use of only 3.4 percent of total potential reserves.

This is rather ironic, considering that this massive archipelago possesses a variety of renewable energy resources, including geothermal, solar, micro-hydro, wind and bio-energy.

Further breakthroughs are urgently required such as by reforming and correcting policy and pricing incoherence (for example by phasing out subsidies for fossil fuels), removing structural impediments and promoting investments in renewable energy.

The success story of IBEKA and others who are harnessing renewable energy, therefore, needs to be magnified and/or replicated.

The other award recipient is another source of inspiration of similar magnitude. Tuan Guru Haji Hasanain Juaini, has made his mark, not only through establishing a progressive Islamic boarding school, but also in motivating and organizing students, community members and fellow Indonesians to actively contribute to forest and water conservation.

Tuan Guru, meaning “esteemed master”, is an honorific title used by Muslim leaders in Lombok Island (east of Bali), West Nusa Tenggara. As a local religious leader, Hasanain is a key non-state actor of considerable influence in Lombok society.

Hasanain and his progressive Narmada Islamic School gained great respect by advocating the importance in preserving the remaining forests and water catchment areas in Lombok. They also demonstrated that conservation can start with a school.

Lombok has experienced the worsening seasonal water crisis. Droughts have brought misery to many and clean water is still a luxury only available to some. During the rainy season, some parts of the island suffer from flooding and landslides. With a majority of Lombok’s people still living in poverty, deforestation and the water crisis have worsened local people’s livelihoods.

A collaborative action plan — between governments, local communities, NGOs, the local public water enterprise (PDAM) — was formulated to show that there are solutions to this resource problem, and Hasanain has been lending his voice to support it since.

The solutions include forest restoration in upper catchment areas, payment for watershed services, river conservation and social economic development for local communities.

To back up his call for conservation, starting from Narmada, his students and teachers have established a number of nurseries providing approximately 1.5 million seeds and seedlings, and are also involved in restoration activities that have successfully rehabilitated 36 hectares of degraded forests.

His own house also provides a good example of conservation, which can start from each individual household. A semi-structured nursery and a humble green garden clearly symbolize the intentions of the owner.

Verses from the Koran on the house wall, including the first revelation (i.e. Iqra! or Read, Recite!), appear to reaffirm the commitment of Hasanain and his school to learn more and understand many things, including from nature.

These two Indonesian winners of this year’s Magsaysay Award have shown that ordinary Indonesians can overcome big challenges. Amid negative political, economic and environmental issues faced by this country, their leadership and success are a demonstration of the confidence, strength and capabilities of our people.

These two figures show that there is in fact a bright light of hope for this nation to prosper.


Fitrian Ardiansyah is a doctoral candidate at the Australian National University, and the recipient of Australian Leadership Award and Allison Sudradjat Award. More of his articles can be found on his blog.

An Economist for Nature Calculates the Need for More Protection

By JOHN MOIR (ILCW member)

Published: August 8, 2011 by The New York Times

COTO BRUS, Costa Rica — Dawn is breaking over this remote upland region, where neat rows of coffee plants cover many of the hillsides. The rising tropical sun saturates the landscape with color, revealing island-like remnants of native forest scattered among the coffee plantations.

But across this bucolic countryside, trouble is brewing. An invasive African insect known as the coffee berry borer is threatening the area’s crops. Local farmers call the pest “la broca”: the borer.

Despite the early hour, Gretchen Daily, a Stanford University biology professor, is already at work studying this complex ecosystem. Amid a cacophony of birdsong, Dr. Daily and her team are conducting experiments that demonstrate the vital connection between wildlife and native vegetation. Preliminary data from new studies suggest that consumption of insects like la broca by forest-dwelling birds and bats contribute significantly to coffee yields.

Since 1991, Dr. Daily, 46, has made frequent trips to this Costa Rican site to conduct one of the tropics’ most comprehensive population-level studies to monitor long-term ecological change.

“We are working to very specifically quantify in biophysical and dollar terms the value of conserving the forest and its wildlife,” she said.

By Charles J. Katz, Jr.

A GLOBAL FOCUS Gretchen Daily, a  Stanford biology professor, in Palo Alto, Calif.

Part of Dr. Daily’s interest in natural capital emerged from her research in Costa Rica, where she became intrigued with an innovative government initiative known as Payment for Environmental Services. The program, initiated in the 1990s, pays landowners to maintain native forest rather than cut it and has contributed to a significant reduction in Costa Rica’s deforestation rate.

The Costa Rican program helped inspire Dr. Daily to co-found the Natural Capital Project in 2006. NatCap, as the program is known, is a venture led by Stanford University, the University of Minnesota and two of the world’s largest conservation organizations, the Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund. It aims to transform traditional conservation methods by including the value of “ecosystem services” in business, community and government decisions. These benefits from nature — like flood protection, crop pollination and carbon storage — are not part of the traditional economic equation.

“Currently, there is no price for most of the ecosystem services we care about, like clean air and clean water,” said Stephen Polasky, professor of ecological/environmental economics at the University of Minnesota. He says that because economic calculations often ignore nature, the results can lead to the destruction of the very ecosystems upon which the economy is based.

“Our economic system values land for two primary reasons,” said Adam Davis, a partner in Ecosystem Investment Partners, a company that manages high-priority conservation properties. “One is building on the land, and the second is taking things from the land.”

“Right now, the way a forest is worth money is by cutting it down,” Mr. Davis said. “We measure that value in board-feet of lumber or tons of pulp sold to a paper mill.” What has been missing, he says, is a countervailing economic force that measures the value of leaving a forest or other ecosystem intact.

Early on, Dr. Daily recognized that new tools were needed to quantify nature’s value. “We began by developing a software program called InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs) to map and value nature’s goods and services that are essential for humans,” she said.

The software, which is available as a free download, enables the comparison of various environmental scenarios. What is the real cost of draining a wetland or clearing a coastline of mangroves? InVEST models the trade-offs and helps decision makers better understand the implications of their choices.

 “Our dream was not to try to capture the full value of nature’s services, because that’s so hard to do,” Dr. Daily said. “Our goal is to begin making inroads in the decision-making process by including at least some of the value of nature in the economic equation.”

The Natural Capital Project now works in Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Pacific and North America. In China, NatCap is working with the government on an ambitious program to protect natural capital. After deforestation caused extensive flooding in 1998, China committed $100 billion to convert vast areas of cropland back into forest and grassland. The government is building on this success by helping to develop and test the InVEST software to put in place a new reserve network that is projected to span 25 percent of the country. The reserves will help with flood control, irrigation, drinking supply, hydropower production, biodiversity and climate stabilization.

At a NatCap site in Hawaii, Kamehameha Schools, the state’s largest private landowner, used InVEST to evaluate future land use for a 26,000-acre site on the North Shore of Oahu. In the past, the landholding had been used for aquaculture, crops and habitation. After examining the alternatives modeled by InVEST, Kamehameha Schools selected a diversified mix of forestry and agriculture intended to improve water quality, sequester carbon and generate income.

About seven months ago, Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google.com, unveiled a powerful new tool that enables global-scale monitoring and measurement of changes in the earth’s environment. Called Google Earth Engine, it features a huge trove of satellite imagery of the earth’s surface. NatCap is now moving the InVEST software onto the Google Earth Engine platform.

“Right now, when we do a NatCap project or use InVEST, we send people to a country or state, and they spend weeks accumulating the data and putting it in the right format,” said Peter Kareiva, vice president and chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy. Google Earth Engine will greatly speed the analysis process, Dr. Kareiva said.

Luis Solórzano, program director of environmental science at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, who worked on Google Earth Engine, says that the new tool can map trends and allow scientists to forecast such things as soil fertility, erosion and deforestation. “It’s the kind of tool policy makers need to make informed decisions,” Dr. Solórzano said.

Because the natural capital concept is anthropocentric, Dr. Daily sometimes is asked whether quantifying ecosystem services runs the risk of ignoring nature’s intrinsic worth or overlooking difficult-to-measure aspects of the natural world, like aesthetic or spiritual benefits.

Dr. Daily acknowledges that certain properties of nature defy quantification. “The beauty of the natural capital approach is it leaves the vast, immeasurable aspects of nature in their own realm while focusing in a very practical way on environmental benefits that we can and should incorporate into our current decisions.”

The precarious state of the world’s environment has concerned Dr. Daily since her teenage years, when her family lived in West Germany and she witnessed the destructive power of acid rain on the country’s forests. “I realized then that I wanted to be a scientist,” she said. This early fascination with nature led to her passion for the forests of Costa Rica, and that in turn set the course for her international leadership with natural capital.

Dr. Daily’s work took on a special urgency with the 2005 publication of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which was developed under the auspices of the United Nations. This report found that recent and rapid human-caused changes have produced a “substantial and largely irreversible loss” in the diversity of life on earth and that two-thirds of the world’s ecosystem services were declining.

“The loss of earth’s biodiversity is permanent,” Dr. Daily said. “And it is happening on our watch. We need to convey with compelling evidence the value of nature and the cost of losing it. I find it stunning that until the next asteroid hits the planet, it is humanity that is collectively deciding the future course of all known life.”

ILCW member Linda M. Hasselstrom (USA) Founding Fellow, will host several creative writing faculty members and about 15 MFA students from the Creative Writing and the Environment program at Iowa State University (Ames) at her Windbreak House retreats (windbreakhouse) on the edge of the Black Hills of southwestern South Dakota, USA. This will be the fourth year students from the writing program visit Linda's ranch.
 
During the three-day September event, Hasselstrom will lead walks through the Great Plains grassland of her cattle ranch, observing and discussing wildlife, climate, grazing, terrain and human occupation. She will provide handouts on various topics, talk about native grass in relation to agricultural cultivation, and provide a cow skeleton diagram so students can put together their own souvenir cow at the cattle graveyard. And she will provide students with a literal "taste of the ranch," so they can sample the flavor of foods grown in arid grasslands soil, so different from that of Iowa's rich loam.
 

 


Linda and the group of students head back to the ranch headquarters after a grasslands hike. (Sept. 2010)
 




Students explore Battle Creek. In 2004, Linda worked with the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (www.rmbo.org) to enhance the bird and wildlife habitat along the creek, fencing the riparian area to separate it from surrounding cattle pasture. (Photo taken Sept. 2010)