A Presentation on Markets at Virginia Ecosystem Service Conference

Monday, 16 March 2009 00:00

I presented our Bay Bank and LandServer work on March 13th at the first annual Virginia Ecosystem Services conference, held in beautiful Charlottesville VA. 

The conference was hosted by the Virginia Department of Forestry, the Virginia department of Environmental Quality, and Virginia Cooperative Extension.

The well run event was well attended by a mix of landowners, technical service providers, ecosystem service market participants, and state and federal agencies.

Kudos to Buck Kline of VA DOF and Neil Clark of VA Cooperative Extension on putting together a great event. 

The focus of the presentation was to introduce LandServer and the Bay Bank and explain the critical value of Ecosystem Market Infrastructure (EMI).  EMI insures that these exciting new markets are accessible (to buyers, sellers, and investors), transparent, robust, credible, and secure.

I concluded the presentation with the analogy that compares regional ecosystem service markets to your local Farmers Market: 

"These local markets make it easy for buyers and sellers to meet, thus lowering transaction costs.  Farm markets are transparent.  You can see the goods and know exactly where they came from.  Farm markets increase commodity exposure and market access. Prior to the farmers market, local farmers had very few outlets for their goods.  Farm markets also help to opportunity to bundle products.  You can get both bell peppers and cilantro in the same place. 

"Farm Markets also help to set product standards (local, organic, free range, grass fed) for the market.  Finally, and most importantly, markets help to Drive Demand.  You didn't realize that you wanted a 5th generation, organic, heirloom tomato until you went to the Market and saw how good it looked."

LandServer and the Bay Bank help to address this critical lack of a centralized ecosystem market infrastructure for the Chesapeake region.  When Bay Bank goes live in late 2009, private landowners will be able to market their carbon, habitat, and forest conservation credits as easily as a farmer with a 5th generation, organic heirloom tomato.