Manale solutions to new challenges
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The document discusses the decline in federal funding and the challenges faced in agriculture and conservation due to climate change, population growth, and inadequate treatment of soil resources. It emphasizes the need for a systems approach to resource management and highlights the importance of establishing proper pricing for ecosystem services. Additionally, it outlines the necessity for clearer definitions and standards in trading environmental services to ensure public benefits and tackle ongoing complex problems.
Manale solutions to new challenges
- 1. Andrew Manale APM Assoc./EPA retired
- 2. Decline in federal funding Climate Change Population Growth and Increased Pressure to Produce More with Existing Resources →Drivers of change in the context in which conservation must function
- 3. Too few agricultural acres are adequately treated—many legacy problems Stressed soil resources Nutrient enrichment Declining biological diversity and wildlife habitat Poorly functioning wetlands Insufficient storage of flood runoff
- 4. → Nothing new. Well documented Inefficient Management of Soil/land Resources from Society’s Perspective. In other words, Overproduce those ecosystem services that respond to distorted market prices distorted by government policy ◦ Commodity crops ◦ Geographically concentrated production of livestock Underproduce ecosystem services that reflect public goods ◦ Wildlife habitat ◦ Nutrient recycling ◦ Temporary water storage for flood mitigation ◦ Carbon and nitrogen storage in soils
- 5. Traditional interventions not enough Voluntary “walk-in” measures have not worked Greater federal support not likely in near term Federal regulation not likely
- 7. 2002 Farm Bill Big question—how much money do we need? The result was CEAP—the Conservation Effects Assessment Project What works? What needs to be done? How much is needed?
- 8. Single practice approach vs by multiple practices and systems approach Longer term maintenance Entire cropping system and land/practice interface is important for services, ◦ ie. What is grown where is as important as how it is grown Tracking system for what and where Need more $
- 9. “Problemshed” problems need problemshed management Institutional governance driven by problemshed institutional needs
- 10. SWCS has made the case for a new paradigm Recently published Federal Principles and Standards for Federal Investments in Water Resources states it in policy terms: The distillation of the messages is this: ◦ Systems approach vs traditional single field/farm interventions, ◦ Elucidation of potential trajectories and their tradeoffs and consequences ◦ Adaptive Management—treat interventions as management experiments for which feedback is necessary ◦ Accountability—each level of decision-making knows what it is responsible for and provides timely evidence of performance
- 11. Fragmented governance NEPA implementation only as good as interagency commitment USDA’s Office of Environmental Markets lacks regulatory or oversight → A top down approach makes good political sense, not necessarily economic or scientific
- 12. ◦ Let prices lead to better allocation—i.e. ringmaster ◦ ◦ Key is to establish prices for ecosystem services that are not traditionally traded in private markets Prices help bring demand in sync with supply
- 13. Requires markets or contractual arrangements for ecosystem service ◦ Many services are unquantified or unmonetizable ◦ Must be buyer and seller Many ongoing attempts to overcome these problems ◦ Limited success to date ◦ ⇨ What can make a difference now?
- 14. Tracking/accounting system for changes—more than a commodity market exchange ◦ Attempt at creating system in 2009 farm bill under auspices of Office of Environmental Markets, not yet borne out Clear or reasonable definition of what is traded and standards for trades—necessary to improve the quality of the trade to ensure that the public benefits, not just participants in trades—Richard Sandor and wheat commodity futures markets, ie. Role of government to bless tool for measuring what it is that is traded Clarity, from a legal perspective, on property rights—not so simple in current world where most agricultural land is absentee owned These problems are ongoing and will take time to resolve. Very complex problems More potential money is involved, ie change hands, the quicker the resolution of these issues
- 15. Valuation generally requires assessments at significant spatial scale that may involve multiple land owners and operators. Uncertainty regarding larger framework conditions and what others are doing that could affect success. Market (variation in prices) and policy uncertainty Uncertainty regarding measurement tools spatially and temporally/accounting/longer term compliance with contracts—surety bonds Uncertainty regarding transfer rights of credit or service and what happens if nonperformance Uncertainty regarding what are accepted practices and tools of measurement --How do we know we have a real credit? Need for government blessing. Example from wheat futures market.
- 16. A new Farm Bill WRDA and new standards for all federal investments in water resources/flood and drought risk mitigation ◦⇒ Opens up new sources of money and leveraging possibilities
- 17. Consolidated easement programs ◦ More flexibility ◦ Greater focus on targeting and restoring functionality of ecosystems ◦ Emphasis on multiple producers Regional conservation partnerships ◦ Regional and watershed ◦ $100 million seed money Flood Mitigation new focus focus.
- 18. Under WRDA, federal government funds water resource projects New Principles and Standards ◦ Governs guidelines on decision- making regarding investments ◦ Apply to all federal agencies with investments in water resources, incl EPA, USDA, BLM, Corps, etc.
- 19. Healthy and resilient ecosystems Sustainable economic development Avoiding unwise use of floodplains Public safety, including recognition that nonstructural approaches should be considered along with structural approaches Environmental justice which means an active effort to identify where an action could disproportionately affect on disadvantaged populations and to engage their input from the start Watershed approach that requires a broader examination of both causes and solutions to water resource issues, including cumulative effects of past actions
- 20. Makes project planning more consistent with planning and evaluation under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and brings objectives more in line with intent of NEPA, that is the restoring and protecting of Ecosystems Establishes that the evaluative framework be an ecosystem services approach to capture all effects ◦ ECONOMIC ENVIROMental and social ◦ It explicitly calls for consideration of nonquantifiable and nonmonetizable effects in overall calculus Best available science Emphasis on collaboration among federal and other agencies Acknowledges risk and uncertainty, especially with climate change and injects Adaptive Management into the design of the response to risk and uncertainty Water use and reuse, recognizing that the issue of water quantity includes its reuse and recycling Nonstructural approaches become equal partners with structural approaches International concerns Design of alternatives that considers the legal or policy intervention that may lead to the problem to be addressed Transparency in decisionmaking Plan selection—the benefits compared to costs must justify action. Final decision should take into account the relative importance of both monetizable and nonmonetizable effects
- 21. Draft Guidelines reflecting new P&S await final release Current Guidelines in place since 1983
- 22. Coordination or stacking of pots of money Use of federal funds to leverage these pots for focused efforts New efforts to allow prices to allocate resources ◦→ These new policies lead to new opportunities to address challenges
- 23. Production Agriculture Agricultural Conservation The Invisible Hand of Prices We Thank You
- 24. The End