Introduction to +Nature

Scott and I just wrapped up a long weekend meeting in North Carolina of a newly-formed group of a dozen so individuals. The group, which calls itself the +Nature coalition, is introducing an economic model aimed at the implementation of natural capital accounting in the United States.

The group was inspired by the groundbreaking work of IMF economist Ralph Chami, who calculated the service value of a single healthy whale to earth’s ecosystem at $2M USD. This extraordinary figure is due in part to the 33 tons carbon it accumulates on its body throughout its life, but also through a symbiotic process whales have with phytoplankton, a food source for most marine life which is fertilized and “blooms” in the presence of whale feces. Globally, phyto captures 37M tons of carbon per year and is responsible for approximately 50% of the oxygen in the atmosphere, or as Ralph puts it “every other breath.” (listen to the podcast here).

Courtesy +Nature coalition

The +Nature model could provide a way to direct carbon offset funds to protect this whale so that she can perform her service over course of her life. Carbon offsets would go directly to monitor and protect her habitat, or to remove sources of mortality to increase her species’ life expectancy.  As you can imagine, quantifying this or each species is extraordinarily hard, and quantifying the dollar value of subsequent conservation measures will be equally difficult, but he species valuation has already been done for the whale (as well as the forest elephant) which begs the question “what’s the value of conservation of these species?”

Plans are undereway for a demonstration project for the U.S. and the rest of the world, but a fully-deployed +Nature model will allow any public or private landowner who possesses natural capital assets to engage in an open and transparent marketplace with carbon emitters seeking to offset their impacts. Not only does it preserve critical carbon sinks by protecting species and habitat, but the model could fuel the local economies by creates jobs for the stewards of nature.  Whereas plastic pollution and climate change disproportionately impact developing nations, the +Nature model will disproportionately benefit them, and provide newfound incentives to protect keystone species and ecosystems which serve us all.