Scott Atkinson

Is this really working? Controversial opinion for the day: the carbon market is broken. If demand in the voluntary carbon markets are only driven by moral and ethical motivation, it will be too limited to span the breadth and depth needed to solve the problem it tries to. Half of the credits used for retirement are at least 5 years old! Surely this should terrify anyone looking at the voluntary market as the solution to climate change. More interesting, would be to understand the average price of these credits. (my guess is very low) Imagine reading this as a new project developer, with no guaranteed price, massive volatility and flagging demand, how are we expecting new projects to come on line and investment to flow into decarbonisation at scale. Because it's the right thing to do? Newsflash, that doesn't work in a capitalist system. This post is meant to stimulate debate, so please feel free to share opinions openly? But please, let's be real with each other... there is a lot at stake.

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How is #aquifer depletion connected to loss of #drought resilience? In the Spring Issue of Irrigation Today, DWFI Director of Policy Nicholas Brozovic shares how groundwater depletion makes agricultural production more physically and economically vulnerable to drought risks, both now and in the future. Read the article: https://lnkd.in/gqf6EfK3

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Witnessing ecological restoration in mining areas in China A healthy ecosystem serves as a vital natural carbon sink. As China advances toward its carbon neutrality goal, public awareness of the significance of ecological restoration is growing steadily. https://lnkd.in/g4tXqVKp

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Exploring Verra’s Programmatic Shifts to Improve Project Quality in Forest Carbon Projects 🌳 🌲 Discover how Verra’s programmatic shifts are enhancing project quality in forest carbon initiatives. Learn about new methodologies, baseline reforms, and strategic partnerships aimed at boosting transparency and credibility in the voluntary carbon market. Read the full blog here: https://lnkd.in/eHd8nWp9

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📢 On Wednesday, July 17th at 3pm (CEST), BCA and key partners will present Demand Side Tools for Integrity. 🌱This webinar will highlight tools, knowledge networks and other approaches currently being developed to provide on-ramps for engaging in the biodiversity credit market with principles of equity, quality and integrity. • CDC Biodiversité will present their work on assessing the quality and integrity of biodiversity credit methodologies, which they leverage to support their B4B+ Club (Business for Positive Biodiversity Club) members.  • Ecogain will present their CLIMB methodology, a tool for quantifying and valuing biodiversity, which is being used by multiple corporate actors in Sweden.  • Etifor | Valuing Nature will present their “Biodiversity Working Group” initiative in Italy, which aims to enhance corporate understanding of nature-related risks and provide firms with the tools to address them. • The WBCSD – World Business Council for Sustainable Development will present their “Beyond Value Chain” initiative, while highlighting many of the challenges that remain in catalyzing demand at scale in the biodiversity credit market. 👉 You can register for the webinar here: https://lnkd.in/d3BKwTAs

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🔑 Key finding from the Global Baseline white paper REDD+ project baseline forest loss predictions closely matched actual jurisdictional forest loss. When aggregated globally over a 20-year period (2002–2022), REDD+ baseline projections — which estimate deforestation in the absence of a project — closely matched the actual forest loss observed in surrounding jurisdictions. This result highlights that REDD+ carbon crediting has been robust at a system level, demonstrating that baseline methodologies have been a reasonable and effective benchmark for assessing deforestation threats. 🔗 Read more here- https://lnkd.in/eDshCg-t #REDD #ClimateImpact #Deforestation

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Much environmental conservation focuses on preserving land piece by piece. A new $335 million conservation initiative for the Great Bear Sea uses a project finance for permanence (PFP) model—an Indigenous-led approach garnering increased use globally. 🌍 The PFP model focuses on increasing the long-term resilience of an entire region by funding it up-front. 🌿 Douglas Neasloss of the Kitasoo Xai'xais Nation believes this initiative can help address the decline in salmon and abalone stocks, essential to their ocean-based culture. Having already seen success in the Great Bear Rainforest, this PFP approach is expected to create 3,000 jobs and significant skills training opportunities. 🤝 With support from over 20 institutional funders, the initiative promises a lasting impact. Similar PFP projects are also in the works across Canada and globally, advancing conservation goals everywhere. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/e4YpQVVS 📷 Christine Smith-Martin, CEO of Coastal First Nations - Great Bear Initiative, speaks to the press in Vancouver, B.C., on June 25, 2024, at the launch of a new $335 million Indigenous-led coastal conservation initiative. (Emilee Gilpin/ Coastal First Nations) Gabe Oatley is Future of Good’s editorial fellow on transforming funding models. This independent journalism is supported by MakeWay and the Waterloo Region Community Foundation. #conservation #futureofgood #greatbearsea #environment #firstnations #oceans #britishcolumbia #marinereserve #wildlife #sustainability #indigenousleadership #biodiversity #climatechange #salmon #coastalcommunities #protectouroceans #nature #oceanconservation #marineprotection #greatbearrainforest

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I am happy to share our new publication on #threats to inland #wetlands and uncertainty around global #soil #carbon #stocks and #sequestration rates https://lnkd.in/d_f__dDU

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🌳📘 New Publication Alert: Tackling Forest Degradation Estimation Challenges 📘🌳 We’re excited to share a newly published paper exploring the challenges and opportunities in estimating emissions and removals from forest degradation. This critical research was led by Till Neeff and features the contributions of SIG scientists Karen Dyson and Karis Tenneson along with a team of talented co-authors. Highlights from the study: ✅ Analyzes country reporting to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and climate finance initiatives. ✅ Shares insights from a workshop involving 17 countries with forest mitigation programs. ✅ Examines key challenges, including defining forest degradation, monitoring with earth observation data, and estimating emissions from field observations. The study concludes that while investments in data and methods have improved forest degradation estimates, further innovation and continued collaboration are essential to advance this field. 🌍✨ Read the full article to learn more: https://lnkd.in/eDYRf8ue Learn more about the workshop: https://lnkd.in/eSh-rn-X #ForestDegradation #ClimateMitigation #RemoteSensing #EarthObservation #ClimateAction #ForestScience #SustainableForests #ScientificCollaboration #UNFCCC

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On March 26, 2024, members of the Northeast Pacific Biodiversity Action Network held a webinar involving multiple communities and agencies in the Salish Sea to discuss the topic of biodiversity data mobilization. Our goal was to draw on the diverse perspectives of those involved to plan a future series of webinars intended to meet our collective needs and goals toward improved biodiversity research and conservation in the region. This initial planning webinar was well attended, with 44 participants representing a fair balance of perspectives across governments (Indigenous and non-Indigenous), state agencies, academics, and the nonprofit sector. Among the data mobilization challenges identified during the webinar were organizational capacity limitations, a perceived lack of best practices, difficulties with data accessibility, lack of centralized infrastructure, lack of awareness for existing resources, data gaps, as well as sheer overwhelm at the information that is available. Informed by outcomes from this event, the organizing committee is now planning a series of three web symposia to build capacity for the mobilization of biodiversity data by sharing case studies, best practices, and protocols. We invite our colleagues and community members throughout the Salish Sea to join us for this series, Biodiversity Beyond Boundaries: Mobilizing Data for the Future of our Shared Waters, which is set to take place Nov. 5th, 8th, and 13th. Register now and save the date. Details to be announced this Fall! https://lnkd.in/gM_Ce8cv #BioActNet #Webinar #SalishSea #Biodiversity #Conservation

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A study https://lnkd.in/gsDWV6aG from earlier in 2024 suggests dryland expansion from increased aridification (a long-term process by which a region becomes more arid), desertification (a process by which a formerly productive habitat becomes more desert-like from a combination of natural processes and human activities), and decreased greening in a warming global climate will be limited to drylands in northeast Brazil, Namibia, western Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and central Asia, with most drylands seeing increased greening rather than aridification and desertification. This is due to the CO2 fertilization effect https://lnkd.in/gATs4j7c overcoming the effects of increased evapotranspiration in most drylands of the world. However, as a yale e360 article https://lnkd.in/gb753dNA discussing this study mentions, even as drylands are largely exhibiting a greening trend, such a trend is not without numerous downsides. An increase in greening can result in more intensive water use by plants, which can deplete already scarce water resources. Greening can largely manifest as an increase in short, woody plants such as shrubs, which just as with woody encroachment of shrubs into grasslands https://lnkd.in/gb675AiK, provides fuels that can more easily burn and increase risk of large brushfires, as the brushfires in southeast Australia in December 2019-January 2020 demonstrate. Fast-growing invasive plants can also benefit from this greening trend and further displace native plants https://lnkd.in/gri5WD9P. All of this leads to further degradation of arid land ecosystems, even as these arid ecosystems largely avoid aridification and desertification. So, while CO2 fertilization can slow down the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide, largely enhance greening in drylands, and result in far less aridification and desertification of drylands than one may expect, it is not without negative impacts, especially to plant and animal species that have adapted to habitats with scarce water. Continued monitoring as well as adaptation and resiliency efforts will be just as important in drylands seeing persistent or increased greening trends despite increased temperatures as it will be in drylands seeing increased aridification and desertification. Drylands cover up to 42% of land on Earth, but are unfortunately overlooked in conservation efforts https://lnkd.in/gajQG9b8. Only 12% of drylands are protected according to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categories, and less than 5% of the most biodiverse drylands are managed for biodiversity protection, below 30% protection of Earth's surface by 2030 target set by multilateral Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) treaty. Gaps in protection and conservation in drylands further highlight importance of monitoring, conservation, adaptation, and resiliency efforts in drylands, and these gaps in protection and conservation are of key concern in Africa and Asia, which contain the largest drylands.

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On October 10 at noon ET, join Audubon and The Nature Conservancy for a free, livestreamed talk with the directors of conservation science from the Seabird Institute and Audubon Delta, Don Lyons and Erik Johnson, on the effect that climate change is having on birds, the risks and benefits of offshore wind to birds, and how research and monitoring can help us make better decisions when it comes to siting, technology choices, and mitigation. Register and learn more: bit.ly/3zEDTdq

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📢 In case you missed the recent policy brief from MERLIN, an EU research project, we shared it here too! They reviewed EU policies for different sectors (including agriculture, hydropower, insurance) and shared valuable insights on how to include more #naturebasedsolutions in them. 3 key messages 🔑 from this policy brief that are worth highlighting: 🔄 Transformation (a fundamental change in scale and pace) is needed to mainstream freshwater restoration across Europe. 🇪🇺 EU public policies are a lever for transformation. 🌱 EU policies can promote nature-based solutions (NbS) using the IUCN Global Standard criteria to ensure that all aspects of NbS are properly considered.

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There are unavoided and unavoidable climate losses and damages as actions on mitigation and adaptation have been slow. So how do we conceive / envisage / champion climate action on this residual domain of risk? And what should L&D policy reasoning be established? I will share some insights I gained from Nepal, Bangladesh and Vanuatu. And we will here voices form colleagues from these countries.

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OEHHA is excited to announce that we have updated 18 plain-language summaries of indicators of #ClimateChange in California. ➡️Explore the updated indicators here: bit.ly/3qJSdwF #ExploreTheIndicators

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