The Program On
Conservation Innovation
at The Harvard Forest, Harvard University

News

2009 Conference on Conservation Capital in the Americas:

Report of the Conference on Conservation Capital in the Americas

In January of 2009 leaders of land conservation from across North and South America met in Valdavia, Chile to discuss innovative methods to fund conservation in the Western hemisphere. Among the topics they considered was the creation of conservation easements and land trusts in regions where no such instruments now exist.

Participants gathered at the Universidad Austral de Chile to focus on the best practices for bringing new sources of capital to the conservation of land and biodiversity. Among the 120 participants were public sector legislators and administrators, private entrepreneurs, non-profit experts in the practice of conservation, and professors and students from some 17 universities in North, Central and South America. Read the conference report.

Welcome!

As we enter the twenty-first century, a growing community of volunteer and professional conservationists in the United States and around the world is striving, with some notable success, to protect land, aquatic environments, and biodiversity.  In many instances, American conservationists have acted creatively and with considerable passion to innovatively protect and manage land and waterscapes not only for their own benefit, but also for the benefit of the public at large and for the benefit of future generations.  The resources, land, and water conservationists are working to protect through a variety of endeavors have a range of important values – as recreational open space, as resources integral to our supply of fresh water and clean air, as prime working land and waterscapes, as critical habitat for native plants and animals, and as the intangibly intrinsic and irreplaceable heritage of life that has evolved on earth over hundreds of millions of years.

Despite remarkable achievements and progress in recent decades, conservationists face dauntingly complex and dynamic challenges ahead.  These include continuing growth in human populations, changes in demographic patterns, ongoing technological development, and systemic changes in climate and other earth systems.  These changes, occurring in both expected and unforeseen ways, are closely linked to accelerated loss of open space, intensified landscape fragmentation, further degradation of wildlife habitat, alarming declines in the viability of a wide range of biological species, and potentially significant stresses to earth systems.

What is promising during this demanding time is the realization that, as was true of earlier eras in U.S. and world history, these dramatic present-day challenges to land, water, and biodiversity resources provide an excellent context for landmark conservation innovation.  Twenty-first century conservation practitioners are highly motivated to identify and implement new initiatives commensurate with the complex challenges of our day.  Indeed, we in the early twenty-first century are witness to efforts potentially forging remarkable advances in the fields of conservation science, education, advocacy and policy, resource protection, and stewardship.  The realization of such opportunities is the focus of the Program on Conservation Innovation.

We welcome your interest and participation.  To learn more, please explore this web site. Highlights include:

• From Walden to Wall Street: Frontiers of Conservation Finance, edited by James N. Levitt, and co-published by the Island Press and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2005
• The Report on Conservation Innovation, a twice-yearly report on trends in the field
• Information on Conservation in the Internet Age: Threats and Opportunities, edited by James N. Levitt and published by Island Press in October 2002
• The  Vision, Mission, Goals, and Objectives of the Program on Conservation Innovation

We look forward to your inquiries and comments.  You can reach us at:

The Program on Conservation Innovation
PO Box 79218, Belmont, MA, 02479
Tel: 617-489-7800 // Fax: 617-489-7855
E-Mail: james_levitt@harvard.edu