Conservation Finance & Policy Working Group

We are conservation finance practitioners and policy specialists with a variety of expertise and would welcome your participation in the following initiatives:

• Developing incentives for private forest landowners to keep their lands forested and reduce land use conversion, supporting smart growth strategies that encourage high-density and low impact development, and reducing the pressure to convert forests to houses and other types of development.

• Monitoring federal legislation related to climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as land protection and management programs, and sharing information so that W&W partners can take action on items of interest to them. Examples include the New England Governors' Initiative on Land Conservation and national campaigns related to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, adaptation funding, and avoided deforestation in climate change legislation.

• Developing a No Net Loss of Forest Carbon proposal outlining ways the state may reduce conversion of forests to development, recognizing forests for their importance in reducing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and as a resilient foundation for nature to adapt to climate change. We are now working to implement this through the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act.

• James N. Levitt, Director of the Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest, Harvard University, is coordinating the "Financing Forest Conservation" Study Group and Advisory Board, in conjunction with legislation signed by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in January 2009.