Recent Mott Foundation News -- Environment

American Rivers celebrates 35 years of protecting, restoring nation's waterways

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:51:45 GMT

By ANN RICHARDS

A love of rivers united them, but it was an invitation from Phil LaLena to meet in Colorado that brought 33 "river runners," conservationists, cinematographers and environmentalists together to found American Rivers in 1973. Now a nationally recognized conservation organization with 65,000 members dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy rivers, the nonprofit is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.

When first created in Denver, the organization was known as the American Rivers Conservation Council -- or ARC, like Noah, recalled LaLena. In 1987, the name was shortened to American Rivers. Although he cannot name a specific reason for calling together the meeting that led to its birth, the enactment of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act in 1968 and the continuous loss of free-flowing rivers and wilderness areas contributed to the need for an organization specifically devoted to the nation's endangered waterways. Another catalyst was the dam construction activities of the Army Corps of Engineers, LaLena said.

"It was just the time to do it."

Colorado was a logical place to hold the meeting, he continued.

A life-long river-runner who rafted down the Colorado last year at the age of 79, LaLena downplays his role in creating American Rivers, noting that it took the efforts of multiple individuals to "get the darned thing organized.

"We had the space and the equipment we needed right there in Denver, and it was convenient for a lot of the commercial and amateur boatman and outfitters who ran rivers in Colorado and Utah.

"I guess you could say I was the chairman, or facilitator -- or maybe it was just that I could shout louder than anyone else and maintain order to keep the show going," he said of the Denver gathering.

"A lot of good people showed up in Denver. Jerry Mallett, who organized the meeting with me, was working for the Wilderness Society at the time and knew some movers and shakers in the environmental community," LaLena said. "It's a good thing he had Washington connections, because most of us didn't think politically. We didn't want to become activists, we just wanted to protect rivers -- our base motivation was selfish."

Among those gathered in Denver was Brent Blackwelder, who then was working for the Environmental Policy Institute and now is president of Friends of the Earth, headquartered in Washington, DC.

"Blackwelder was always behind us, pushing. If we wandered, he'd keep us on point. Brent and a couple of the others stayed on in Denver for a couple of days and put together a working organization. We all pledged some money and eventually, we hired a young guy (Bill Painter) to run the office."

In its early years, the organization had a specific focus on increasing the number of rivers protected by the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, according to LaLena. It also worked to prevent construction of new dams.

"Dams -- they were a big threat," he said. "Every year, there were more and more legal restrictions. Every year, bit by bit, we were losing the rivers."

Today, American Rivers has broadened its mission to address a wide variety of issues and is the nation’s leading organization standing up for healthy rivers so communities can thrive. The organization is staffed by 60 employees working in eight offices across the U.S., with its national headquarters in Washington, DC. One recent success is the removal of the 100-year-old Marmot Dam on Oregon’s Sandy River, which has restored the river’s health, salmon and steelhead, and recreation opportunities for local communities. American Rivers is also known for its America’s Most Endangered Rivers™ report, which highlights threats and solutions and inspires action on selected rivers every year.

American Rivers staff work in collaboration with grassroots river and watershed groups, as well as with a variety of conservation organizations, sporting and recreational groups and federal, state and tribal agencies concerned with health of rivers nationwide.

With climate change bringing more intense floods and droughts, protecting and restoring rivers and clean water is more important than ever, according to Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers. In this anniversary year, the organization has refined its strategic vision, looking out over the next 35 years. At once bold and simple, says Wodder, the organization’s vision for the future is that rivers are healthy and protected. And, she added, that healthy rivers provide resilience to every human and natural community so they can thrive in the face of the climate crisis.

Since 1987, the Mott Foundation has provided more than $3 million in grant support to American Rivers. In recent years, Mott funding has enabled the organization to participate in the hydropower relicensing process in the Great Lakes region and the southeastern U.S. Through this process, American Rivers promotes changes in the way hydropower dams are operated to ensure increased fish passage, adequate in-stream flows, improved water quality, and similar benefits for freshwater ecosystems.

LaLena is pleased by the longevity and accomplishments of American Rivers but, he says there's much work left to do. Protecting rivers is the first step; managing them for the future is just as critical.

"I still feel we need more action on western rivers," he said.

He remains passionate about rivers, but refuses to romanticize the reasons for his great affection for them or the decision to do something to protect them.

"We could see what would happen if we didn't act," he said of the Denver meeting to discuss the state of the country's rivers. "The idea of the meeting -- and American Rivers -- had been cooking for a long time."

"It was an opportunity to do something worthwhile."

Two Mott grantees honored by American Bar Association

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:19:07 GMT

By ANN RICHARDS

Two Mott Foundation grantees received the American Bar Association's 2008 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy. Those honored represent the two major focuses of Mott's environmental grantmaking: Conservation of Freshwater Ecosystems and International Finance for Sustainability. Daniel Barstow Magraw, Jr., president of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) in Washington, D.C., which has received Mott funding since 1990, was honored in the individual category for his significant influence on setting the international agenda for developing environmental law and its effective implementation. In the organizational category, the Chicago-based Alliance for the Great Lakes was honored for serving the public interests by championing the protection of the lakes over four decades. See the Alliance's story below.

For the past 38 years, the Alliance for the Great Lakes has worked to conserve and restore the world's largest freshwater resource. On August 10, the American Bar Association (ABA) honored that resolve by presenting the organization with its 2008 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy.

Singled out from a field of distinguished applicants including law schools and firms, the Alliance received the award at the ABA's annual meeting in New York City -- a fitting recognition for its "long history of accomplishment on behalf of the Great Lakes," according to bar association officials.

"It’s a small group that does a mammoth job," said E. Lynn Grayson, a partner at Jenner & Block LLP, in the firm's Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Law and Defense & Aerospace Practices in Chicago. Grayson "had the privilege" of signing the nomination form for the ABA award, but putting together the nomination package was a huge collaborative effort involving a number of great partners, she said.

"You tend to hear a lot about the big environmental organizations and their work -- and that's a good thing," she continued. "But a lot of substantive environmental work is being done on a regional level by nonprofits that don't always get the recognition they deserve. The Alliance is a shining example of that kind of organization -- a small group doing good work with very few resources."

"They don't work from behind a desk," said Tony Earl of the Alliance's efforts to build collaboration around Great Lakes protection issues. A former governor of Wisconsin who now is a trustee of the Joyce Foundation in Chicago, Earl became familiar with the Alliance as a result of his participation in the Council of Great Lakes Governors.

"Obviously the protection of the Great Lakes was of major concern to the governors and the Alliance helped carry that concern to its next logical step -- bringing the not-for-profit community together with environmentalists, funders, elected officials and policymakers. Collaboration was essential. Nowhere was that more significant than passage of the Great Lakes Compact," he said, referring to the successful, decade-long process to craft and approve an eight-state agreement governing large-scale water diversion outside the Great Lakes basin and mandate conservation efforts within the basin. As of early August 2008, the Compact is pending in the U.S. House of Representatives.

" ... a lot of substantive environmental work is being done on a regional level by nonprofits that don't always get the recognition they deserve. The Alliance is a shining example of that kind of organization -- a small group doing good work with very few resources."The oldest of the citizen-based Great Lakes organizations in North America, the Alliance was formed in 1970 as the Lake Michigan Federation. Since that time, it has successfully helped protect sand dunes, wetlands and other critical habitats, removed thousands of pounds of debris each year from beaches around the lakes through annual "Beach Sweeps," and improved water quality and slowed the aging process in the lakes by pushing for improved sewage treatment and bans on phosphates in detergents. Headquartered in Chicago, the Alliance has been a Mott Foundation grantee since 1981, receiving more than $1.5 million for a number of initiatives, primarily in the form of general support. The Alliance’s program work parallels many of Mott’s grantmaking interests, including work related to the Great Lakes Compact and implementation of the Clean Water Act.

The award was established in 2000 by the bar association's Standing Committee on Environmental Law, with co-sponsorship by the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. Given to one individual and organizational recipient each year, it was created to recognize significant leadership in improving the substance, process or understanding of environmental protection.

"A big part of their leadership is the networks they've created. They maintain day-in and day-out contact through personal visits, newsletters and now, through all the new web technologies. They've been able to keep track what's happening in each of the states.

"They are tireless," said Earl.

"There are lots of organizations who understand the importance of collaboration -- but not many who can make it work like the Alliance."

Advocate stumps cross-country on behalf of public spaces

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:00:00 GMT

By ANN RICHARDS

Growing up in the shadow of a Texas oil rig drove Charles Jordan into a nearby woods where he spent many pleasurable hours getting to know the perimeters of the wild place that served as his only playground. It also drove him into a career as a parks director and life-long advocate of the benefits of open and green spaces, particularly for children growing up in urban or heavily industrial areas. Charles Jordan

"If it had not been for parks, I don't know where I'd be today," he said. "Through my conservation work, I try to encourage cities and municipalities to develop a parks strategy even if it requires a change in the way local nonprofits -- including government -- work together."

The first African-American to chair the Board of The Conservation Fund, Jordan also serves on the board of the Land Trust Alliance, both long-time grantees of the Mott Foundation. Recently, he visited Flint, Michigan -- where the Foundation is headquartered -- at the invitation of the Flint River Corridor Alliance. He spoke about the importance of urban river and land restoration and management as well as advocated for "color-coordinated conservation" that is inclusive of people of all races, incomes and ages.

"What people don't understand, they don't value," he said of his efforts to bring the principles of land conservation and protection to under-represented communities. "It is important that no one is left out of this work -- that everyone is invited to share their ideas."

Segregation put parks out of Jordan's reach during his youth, further strengthening his resolve to encourage urban communities not only to create parks, but programs that serve nearby neighborhoods.

"Through parks and recreational programs, we build communities. Building communities means connecting people to their neighborhoods, to one another, and to the land," he said. "Once kids begin to understand that the parks belong to them, they're much less likely to destroy what is theirs -- and they're much more likely to notice a tree, a flower or a bird and understand they need to protect it."

There is no better place to introduce a child or young person to these concepts than in a park, he continued.

"Growing up, I had access to nature and an absence of fear -- things that kids today don't seem to have, even in the more affluent communities. We have to find ways -- whether its through the schools, the faith community or voluntary agencies -- to work together to develop outdoor programs for our children. We need our public and private agencies to demonstrate flexibility, to be willing to try new ideas, to quit competing with one another and work together to serve more kids."

Former director of parks for the cities of Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas for more than 30 years, Jordan witnessed first-hand the civic and economic benefits that well-programmed parks and recreational areas contribute to urban areas. Drawing upon this experience, and using his position with The Conservation Fund as pulpit, he now takes this message to planning boards, park boards, environmental organizations and other non-profits across the country.

"The Conservation Fund's approach to protecting this country's significant landscapes and waterways blends both environmental and economic objectives, which makes sense to many of the communities I visit," he said, noting that he tries to craft a message that reaches beyond "the usual suspects."

"I try to focus on the centrality of open space, clean air and clean water to the entire community's quality of life."

It is his generation, says the 70-year-old Jordan, who formed the closest relationship with the land, and it is up to those who enjoyed the benefits of this relationship to introduce a new generation of children to it. Early experiences with nature start the lifelong habits of stewardship and appreciation of beautiful places, he said.

"The Conservation Fund has protected millions of acres of public land," Jordan said. "It is important that future generations understand how rich they are, that they value the land they will inherit.

"They need to understand that their actions today will dictate what will happen in the future."

Additional Information and Links

• The Mott Foundation has provided more than $7.7 million in support of The Conservation Fund's Great Lakes Revolving Loan Fund, which provides short-term financing for the protection of ecologically significant freshwater sites in the U.S. portion of the Great Lakes basin. Since its 2001 inception, the fund has helped protect about 20,000 acres valued at nearly $56 million. To learn more about the work of The Conservation Fund visit http://www.conservationfund.org/.

• The Land Trust Alliance (LTA), a national provider of technical assistance to land trusts, has received more than $3 million from the Mott Foundation since 2001 to build the capacity of land trusts in the Great Lakes region as well as the southeastern United States. For further information on LTA, see the April 2006 edition of Mott Mosaic.

Climate change and water use patterns demand better management of Great Lakes

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:49:28 GMT

By ANN RICHARDS

Climate change, overuse and diversion pose grave threats to Great Lakes water resources, according to a new report issued by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). Global warming, which increases evaporation rates, is contributing to lower lake levels. As surface water levels decline in and outside the Great Lakes basin, pressure will build to increase water withdrawals and diversions.

Mission Hill Peninsula, MI
Photo: Adam Theriault

That "one-two punch" demands an evermore vigorous and focused effort to manage and protect a resource that millions of people in the U.S. and Canada depend on for their economy and way of life, according to Noah Hall, an environmental law professor at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit.

In collaboration with Bret Stuntz, a Michigan attorney and geologist, Hall has written Climate Change and Great Lakes Water Resources. The 44-page report, funded by the C.S. Mott Foundation, examines the potential impacts of rising temperatures and reduced precipitation on the lakes. It also explores ways in which surrounding states can help adaptively manage these water resources to preserve them.

"The report illustrates how the Great Lakes region can become a leader in managing and protecting our water resources and to set an example for the rest of the country," said Molly Flanagan, water program manager for the NWF's Great Lakes office.

Current laws and policies intended to protect water resources from diversions outside the Great Lakes basin and overuse from within the basin are not up to the new challenges posed by climate change, according to Hall and Stuntz.

"We have known for many years that existing laws are inadequate to protect the Great Lakes from diversions and overuse," Hall said. "Now we know that climate change is certain to put additional stress and pressure on the Great Lakes."

"We have known for many years that existing laws are inadequate to protect the Great Lakes from diversions and overuse."

In 2005, the governors of the eight states surrounding the Great Lakes proposed a set of specific guidelines for regulating the withdrawal and use of water from the basin. Known formally as the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact, the "compact" would be a binding agreement among the eight states surrounding the Great Lakes. Under the terms of the compact, the states will agree collectively to abide by a basinwide environmental standard for water uses. And each will develop a program to manage withdrawals as well as water conservation and efficiency programs to reduce waste by all users. A companion agreement that includes Ontario and Quebec provinces establishes similar expectations for Canadians.

The legislatures of the eight Great Lakes must ratify the compact to enact its provisions, said Flanagan. Once this has been accomplished, the U.S. Congress also will be asked for its approval, at which point it will become federal law. To date, Minnesota and Illinois have adopted the compact. Legislation is moving forward in New York, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

"This report is a wake-up call," said Stuntz, noting that as the Great Lakes and other regions struggle with loss of water supplies, demand for water is expected to increase unless water conservation laws and policies are adopted.

Since 2000, as part of its environmental work related to the Great Lakes, the Mott Foundation has made 23 grants totaling nearly $3 million to support research, build relationships among water uses and increase public participation in policy discussions related to the compact.

Additional Link

"Compact seeks to protect Great Lakes," Mott Mosaic, Vol. 5, No. 3, December 2006

Climate change – the missing piece

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 09:42:14 GMT

[NOTE: This column appears in the December 2007 issue of Alliance magazine and is used with their permission.]

By WILLIAM S. WHITE

President, C.S. Mott Foundation

Congratulations are in order for highlighting the timely topic of climate change in the September 2007 issue of Alliance. However, when climate change and the actions needed to address it are discussed, we sometimes fail to recognize a critical leverage point – the public and private financing that fuels international development, especially international investments in the energy sector and in infrastructure projects.

William S. White

Charles Stewart Mott Foundation grantees are working in more than 20 countries, across six continents, to educate decisionmakers at public and private financial institutions about the impacts of their investment choices and to help communities speak out in favour of sustainable alternatives. Their work is critical to our planet's climate future – and I would urge other private foundations to consider funding in this area.

As the world economy grows and becomes ever more interconnected, pressure increases to find new sources of oil and gas and to expand access to those resources. There is a corresponding demand for new infrastructure that will allow goods and resources to be moved from source to market. The investment decisions that countries are making about infrastructure and energy resources will have ramifications for at least 50 years and are likely to impact permanently vulnerable ecosystems.

Tropical forests are particularly at risk. The Amazon and other intact rainforests in Africa and Asia play a vital role in maintaining the integrity of the earth's climate. According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for its work in this field, current deforestation and land-use practices contribute 20-25 per cent of the carbon emissions that cause climate change.

The construction of roads, pipelines and processing facilities associated with oil and gas extraction opens these intact forests to logging and settlement, with extensive deforestation the likely result. Deforestation also advances when forests are converted for agricultural production, including growing crops for biofuel production. Thus, an alternative fuel source promoted as part of the climate change solution could exacerbate the problem.

It is possible to influence investment decisions by injecting a sustainable development perspective into the process. Large-scale energy and infrastructure projects in emerging economies are often funded by a mix of sources, including the World Bank Group, export credit agencies (ECAs) and/or private banks.

Environmental and social safeguard policies at public international financial institutions (IFIs) provide an entry point for influencing the design and implementation of projects they support. Non-profits in Asia, Europe, North America, South America and elsewhere are not only monitoring application of these safeguard policies but also working to shift the IFIs’ portfolios into an expanded investment in alternative energy.

The IFIs should be partners in mitigating the impacts of climate change and avoiding further damage. Unfortunately, recent trends in their investments are worrisome, reflecting renewed interest in extractive industries, large-scale dams, and oil and gas pipeline projects. There is a continued need to shine a light on the investment decisions of the World Bank, other multilateral banks and ECAs, urging those institutions to forge a more climate-friendly energy path.

Private financial institutions can contribute to climate change solutions as well. The Mott Foundation applauds Citigroup and other private banks that have adopted the Equator Principles – voluntary guidelines that influence their management of social and environmental issues in project financing. These banks have shown leadership by signing on to a shared set of sustainability principles. But civil society and local communities must remain vigilant to ensure that these principles are translated into lending practices that promote economic growth, environmental protection and human well-being.

In coming years, the leadership of international public and private financial institutions will become even more vital in addressing climate change. As was noted in the Alliance special feature, Brazil, India and China are critical for any real solutions to climate change. They, as well as other developing countries, must have access to international finance that allows them to make good energy choices for the future.

Climate change: NGOs back banks that support sustainable projects

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:00:47 GMT

By MAGGIE I. JARUZEL

After work by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was honored with the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, one chapter of the global climate change discussion appeared to end while another began.

Trucks pass by a field littered with pipes in Sakhalin, Russia.

“Previously, a lot of time had been spent battling global warming ‘deniers’ …,” said Steve Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International (OCI), a Washington, D.C.-based research and advocacy organization.

“While there’s huge room for disagreement about what the solutions are, there’s no longer any credible doubt -- in the U.S. or elsewhere -- that climate change is real.”

There’s now global consensus that climate change is caused by humans and that the change is happening at a faster pace than previously understood, Kretzmann said. Consequently, the world community faces the next chapter of challenges: changing the way energy is used, developing new energy choices and adapting to the changes that result from global warming.

A key element of these challenges is to alter the mix of global financial investments made in the energy and transportation infrastructure sectors, particularly in developing countries, because these long-term investments can lock countries and communities into extractive technologies and energy sources for decades.

For Kretzmann and his OCI colleagues, shifting public and private financing away from large international oil and gas projects and toward alternative energy technologies -- involving wind, solar and geothermal -- that are clean and renewable is one strategy to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

In 2006, the Mott Foundation provided a two-year, $150,000 grant to OCI to support its international work in the energy industry. This grant is one of several Mott has made under the International Finance for Sustainability program area to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to explore cleaner and better energy solutions.

This support comes at a time when the world is confronted with dual challenges: rising oil and gas prices, and the impact of climate change.

In developing countries, energy and infrastructure investments are funded by a mix of sources. These include private banks and international financial institutions (IFIs), such as the World Bank, and export credit agencies (ECAs), which are public entities that provide government-backed loans, guarantees and insurance to corporations doing business in emerging economies.

However, NGOs working in the field say the World Bank and other IFIs have not met their goals to promote sustainable alternative energy and infrastructure development.

For example, when G8 government leaders met in Scotland in July 2005, they vowed to lead the fight against climate change and to increase the volume of investments in renewable energy by the World Bank and other IFIs.

To date, there has been more rhetoric than substance, Kretzmann says. Only 4 percent of the World Bank’s $4.4-billion energy sector portfolio funded renewable energy projects in 2006.

The World Bank’s own data show that in 2007 its financial support for fossil fuel projects increased, instead of decreasing, leading to an ever-widening gap in funding between non-renewable and renewable energy projects.

For Johan Frijns, it is important to shift the policies, procedures and practices of the world’s largest private banks that finance large infrastructure and energy projects. He is the coordinator of BankTrack, a network of 18 member and nine partner groups from both developed and developing countries. They work together to monitor and influence private international banks.

This network, coordinated from a secretariat based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, has received $300,000 in Mott support since 2005.

Many in the field of sustainable development applaud BankTrack for its role in working with international private banks in the development and acceptance of the Equator Principles -- a set of voluntary guidelines on how to integrate social and environmental issues into project financing decisions and project implementation.

Today, 50 of the leading international banks, as well as a few ECAs, have signed on to the Equator Principles.

But one major shortcoming of the Equator Principles is that they do not address climate change, Frijns says.

“The Equator Principles are the leading initiative of banks on sustainability,” he said, “but they are completely silent on climate change. The very word ‘climate’ does not even appear in them.”

Frijns says the guidelines address socioeconomic impact, land acquisition, involuntary resettlement of indigenous people and pollution prevention. When appropriate, they also require project sponsors to develop action plans to deal with environmental and social risks, but the guidelines overlook one major area.

Frijns finds it troubling that banks may finance oil and gas infrastructure -- oil wells, refineries, pipelines -- and maintain that such projects are “Equator-compliant,” even though the products themselves -- oil, gas and coal -- may contribute to massive greenhouse gas emissions.

Russia’s Sakhalin pipeline is a prime example of Frijns' concern. He says emerging economies, need access to public and private international finance that allows them to make sustainable energy choices for the future.

Construction of an oil and gas pipeline in Sakhalin, Russia, has changed the landscape of this island community.

In addition to troubling energy decisions made by countries scrambling to keep pace with their economic growth, recent investment trends by Equator Banks are worrisome, Frijns says. They reflect a renewed interest on the part of public and private financiers to invest in lucrative extractive industries, large-scale dams, and oil and gas projects, with much less interest in investing in alternatives that do not contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

As a result, BankTrack calls on “Equator banks” to develop collective policies in or outside the Equator Principles that address the pressing issue of climate change.

Elizabeth Bast, international policy analyst for Friends of the Earth-U.S. (FoE), agrees with Kretzmann and Frijns. She says many public and private banks have expressed interest in addressing climate change, but their actions as yet do not line up with their words.

Bast says there is pressure to find new sources of oil and gas to fuel growth. In response, roads, pipelines and processing infrastructure are constructed for oil and gas extraction, resulting in investment decisions that could have adverse, long-term social and environmental ramifications.

FoE-U.S. has received $4.7 million in Mott support since 1990.

Often, either the energy project itself, or the infrastructure built to support it, is located in or near vulnerable ecosystems, such as the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon and other intact rainforests in Africa and Asia play vital roles in maintaining the integrity of the Earth's climate. According to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, current deforestation and land-use practices contribute about 20 percent of the carbon emissions that cause climate change.

The world’s political leaders now realize that reducing the rate of deforestation is one sure way to slow climate change, Bast says.

"Financial support to developing countries will be an essential part of reducing deforestation, but we need to ensure that funding goes toward policies that respect human rights and promote community-based forest management."

How to avoid continuing deforestation in tropical forests will be center stage at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007.

Delegates from 180 countries, along with observers from the media and NGOs, will gather to define a new framework for a climate change agreement that will replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Now that the global community has accepted the realities of climate change and acknowledged a need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Kretzmann says, there are two looming questions: how to finance the new technologies that are needed, and how to fund the necessary changes in production processes and lifestyles.

Frijns agrees. From his longtime perspective, the U.N. meeting needs to deliver a regulatory framework that allows for development of market-based mechanisms that are effective and ambitious enough to lead to dramatic levels of CO₂ reductions.

He says leading private banks are not against ambitious reduction targets, because they clearly see the threat ahead. They also are keen on further developing market-based approaches, such as a global system of carbon trading. Companies that emit more carbon dioxide than the allowable limit set for them by an outside authority would be required to buy more carbon dioxide allowances/credits, while those that are more efficient could sell their unneeded carbon credits at a profit.

Such a system may help finance many of the new investments needed to address climate change but only after policymakers deliver a framework that provides a level and predictable playing field for financial institutions for the decades to come.

The new global financing systems will require rules and standards to help ensure that global investments actually will address climate change and that developing countries will benefit.

“There is a tremendous opportunity for achieving sustainability in the world by focusing on the financiers’ projects -- whether public or private,” he said.

“It’s very difficult to get a huge, internationally operating bank to change its course. But once it does, then the effect is felt all over the world. We can achieve systemic change doing it this way and that’s important.”

Proposal would pay Ecuador to keep oil in the ground

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

By MAGGIE I. JARUZEL

High-level discussions about ways for international financing institutions (IFIs) to address global climate change are entering a new era – one in which nations could be paid for not drilling for oil in environmentally sensitive regions.

“This initiative is so exciting because it comes from a developing country’s government that wants to protect its biodiversity and take on the issue of climate change,” said Jonathan Sohn, senior associate for World Resources Institute (WRI), a Washington, D.C.-based environmental research organization.

The endangered trees of the Yasuni Rainforest.“So often, the pressures facing developing countries force them to make decisions that do not protect these sensitive areas.”

The Ecuadorian government should be regarded as a “bold leader” for putting forth such a proposal, Sohn said, because the plan provides an innovative way to protect the Yasuni Rainforest, located in the Amazon basin, and its indigenous people while simultaneously avoiding carbon emissions by keeping approximately one billion barrels of oil off the global market.

However, he cautioned that every step taken to bring the Yasuni proposal to fruition needs to be taken carefully and correctly so the plan can be used as an international model and replicated.

With support from a Mott Foundation grant, WRI and the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador co-hosted a meeting in mid-September with public and private international finance and development experts, venture capitalists, and others to discuss financing options for the Yasuni proposal.

To date, the governments of Italy and Spain have expressed interest in possibly providing debt relief to Ecuador in exchange for not extracting oil from the Amazon basin, Sohn said.

WRI, one of several Mott grantees receiving support under the Environment program’s International Finance for Sustainability focus, is working with international leaders in hopes of shifting the global focus so natural resources left in the ground are considered just as valuable as those that are extracted.

Another grantee, Amazon Watch, helped develop the Yasuni proposal by providing advice and technical support to Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa presented the proposal to international leaders at the U.N. General Assembly’s meeting on climate change at U.N. headquarters in New York City in September 2007. To date, that was the largest gathering of world leaders to discuss the topic, says Atossa Soltani, Amazon Watch’s executive director.

With support from Mott and the Wallace Global Fund, the Ecuadorian government is hosting a workshop November 26-30 in Ecuador as a follow-up to the D.C. event. The goal is to determine the next steps to take toward financing and implementing the proposal, including developing ways for the Ecuadorian government to invest in a sustainable economic development strategy with resources raised from this initiative, Soltani said.

“We need to start weaning ourselves off foreign oil, and this proposal helps us think in that direction.”

Following that meeting, world leaders will gather again on the Indonesian island of Bali in December for the 13th U.N. Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP 13).

Because Ecuador would forego an estimated $9.2 billion in oil revenues, the government is seeking compensation from nations, foundations, corporations, nonprofit groups, and individuals for half, or $4.6 billion total. Backers of the proposal are trying to raise $360 million to meet the first year’s payout.

Solanti said it is feasible to raise between $3.5 billion and $4.6 billion from people around the planet because so many people are affected by what happens in the region.

“When we look globally at the role of the Amazon Rainforest, we see that it literally drives the weather around the world. It affects rainfall from California to the agricultural belt in Iowa,” she said.

“This proposal is not only protecting an important rainforest, but also recognizing and addressing climate change. In my 11 years of doing this kind of work, this is the first time I’ve seen such a progressive proposal from a government.”

Although the Yasuni oil represents 20 percent of the nation’s total known oil reserves, Soltani said, there has been broad support for the proposal from Ecuadorian citizens.

The proposal also has received support from people elsewhere because it addresses climate change in two ways, said Sohn of WRI.

First, keeping the oil in the ground would reduce deforestation in the Yasuni Rainforest because trees would not be cut down to make roads to reach the oil reserves. Second, there would be less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere if the nearly one billion barrels of oil were not drilled and used as fuel, he said.

“We need to start weaning ourselves off foreign oil, and this proposal helps us think in that direction.”

Additional Links

View WRI’s media release about the Yasuni proposal.
View a media release from the government of Ecuador.
View an announcement about the Energy and Climate Change Commitment for the Ecuador proposal from the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI).
View a video of the CGI award presentation to the President of Ecuador.
View an Amazon Watch video clip about the Amazon Rainforest narrated by actor Martin Sheen.

Encouraging landowners to save the places they love

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:00:00 GMT

By ANN RICHARDS

The clock is ticking for landowners who want to take advantage of generous federal tax incentives encouraging conservation easement donations.

“I’ve never been busier,” said Stephen J. Small, a Boston-based attorney who is considered one of the nation’s leading authority on private land protection options and strategies.

Steven J. Small

At the University of Michigan-Flint recently, Small was the featured speaker for a six-city Webinar to inform tax and real estate attorneys, appraisers, and financial advisers about the expanded federal tax incentive for conservation easement donations, which is set to expire at the end of 2007. He also is the author of Preserving Family Lands I, II and III, which have sold more than 125,000 copies since the late 1980s.

“If anyone on the planet can make tax law interesting, it’s Stephen,” said Erin Heskett, director of the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) Midwest office.

Since 2000, the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit has been granted more than $1.6 million from the Mott Foundation to build the capacity and effectiveness of land trusts operating in the Great Lakes basin. Recently, LTA also received a multi-year, $800,000 grant to launch a national land trust accreditation program. (See box.) LTA, along with the Lake Huron Alliance and the Center for Applied and Environmental Research at UM-Flint, sponsored the Webinar.

Small’s enthusiasm for tax law began more than 20 years ago, during night classes at Georgetown University Law Center, where he authored a paper on the intersection of the tax code and historic preservation easements.

“There was no literature on the topic -- no one understood it,” he said. “The more I looked for information, the more I became intrigued by the idea of using an old property law tool to accomplish social good.”

After going to work for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in the 1980s, Small had the opportunity to write the regulations for conservation easements.

“Call it serendipity, call it karma -- but among the 10 or so projects nobody wanted to deal with at the IRS was conservation easement law, and it landed on my desk,” he said.

Today, more than 37 million acres of land in the U.S. are protected through easements, and there are 1,667 land trusts -- most of which have sprung up in the past two decades. Much of this explosive growth is due to the income tax deductions available for gifts of conservation easements, first included in the Tax Reform Act of 1976 and then made permanent in Tax Treatment Extension Act of 1980.

Under a conservation easement, a landowner voluntarily agrees to restrict certain rights associated with his or her property. Such easements protect land for future generations while allowing owners to retain many private property rights, including living on and using their land while receiving an income tax deduction for the value they give up.

Under the prior income tax rules, an individual could deduct the value of a conservation easement donation generally up to 30 percent of the donor’s adjusted gross income for the year, with a five-year carry-forward of any unused amount. Likewise, up to 10 percent of a corporation’s taxable income could be deducted for the year in which a conservation easement was donated, again with a five-year carry-forward. For conservation easement gifts made in 2006 and 2007, however, the tax incentives are considerably more generous.

First, says Small, the value of an easement donation can be deducted up to 50 percent of an individual’s adjusted gross income for the year of the gift, with a 15-year carry-forward of any unused deduction amount.

For a qualifying farmer or rancher -- which includes both individuals and corporations -- the deduction can be greater. In certain cases, says Small, 100 percent of the donor’s taxable income in the year the gift is given can be deducted, with a 15-year carry-forward.

“This is a tool for people who love their land and don’t want to see it paved over,” Small said. “When you donate an easement, you’re giving up value. If done properly, it’s real philanthropy -- tax deductions can never mathematically replace the full dollar value of your land.”

Although many millions of acres of land have been protected over the past 20 years, conservation easements are complicated because each is unique, he said.

“One of the biggest problems in the field today is lack of capacity. A major impediment to easement donations is the client's lawyer who doesn’t understand the regulations. The professional planning community is way behind.”

Small’s seminars are designed to correct this deficit.

“The work is getting more complicated. Although a lot of the land trusts in this country are run by intelligent, sophisticated people, there are a number who have not done their homework.

“Giving away land is easy -- you just sign a deed. If you want to donate a conservation easement, you need to be sure who will be enforcing and monitoring the agreed restrictions in perpetuity. Structuring easements requires lots of due diligence and legal work.”

Another challenge is the grassroots nature of land trusts, Small said.

“In this work, you can’t sit back and wait for people to come to you. The word isn’t out to all the landowners who need to know about conservation easements.

“Land trusts need to take on the responsibility of outreach. Land trusts need to increase their visibility by bringing in speakers, offering programs and technical assistance.”

Small also is a proponent of accreditation.

“The field is enormously challenging because it is so new. Land trusts need to understand their responsibilities once they hold an easement. They need to build their ability to do the deal.

“That’s why I do a lot of speaking. I talk about the tax code, not flora and fauna.”

Thanks to the current incentive for private land protection, there’s been a significant increase in donations, he said.

“There’s a chance that these incentives will be extended beyond 2007. But to take advantage of this opportunity, people need to be in touch with their local land trusts now. It’s the time to be creative, not constrained, if you’re passionate about protecting your land.”

Mott funds national land trust training and education

Intense public scrutiny over the past two years -- including media criticism, Congressional hearings, and federal audits of individual land trusts -- has focused a bright light on the need for a uniform level of competency and integrity throughout the land trust sector.

In response to this criticism, the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) recently launched a voluntary accreditation program, which provides independent certification that land trusts are adhering to standards and practices put into place by the alliance in 2005. These Land Trust Standards and Practices -- the universally accepted standard for land trust quality -- now are a condition of LTA membership.

To help land trusts prepare for accreditation as well as to establish the commission that will oversee the review process, the Mott Foundation made a multi-year, $800,000 grant to provide training and other capacity-building activities.

The accreditation program will support the assessment of 400 land trusts and provide more than 300 training sessions for 14,000 land trust professionals and volunteers. It also will help establish the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent entity that will conduct organizational reviews.

Founded in 1982, LTA serves as the umbrella organization representing more than 1,600 land trusts across the nation, promoting voluntary land conservation and working to strengthen the land trust movement.

Hydropower relicensing: a tool for conservation

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT

By CHRISTINA K. MOONEY

During the past two decades, many hydropower facilities in the Great Lakes basin came up for relicensing before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Because licenses are valid for up to 50 years, this represented an opportunity to bring these facilities up to current environmental standards.

With Mott Foundation support, organizations such as New York Rivers United (NYRU), American Rivers and others were able to address significant environmental issues during relicensing. And in the process, they achieved much more.

“These groups helped pioneer a more collaborative, multi-stakeholder process in developing operating licenses for hydropower dams,” said Sam Passmore, Mott program officer for the Environment program.

"The relicensing process has led communities, agencies, tribes and other constituents to develop a much broader respect for the operations of an entire watershed.

“FERC is now using that process as the standard in licensing across the country, including the Southeast, where Mott now also funds," Passmore added. "That, coupled with the fact that a whole generation of dams in the Great Lakes are now operating with modern licenses that take environmental issues into account, are the most important legacies of this grantmaking.”

Mott begain its hydropower grantmaking in 1992, and since that time has provided more than $4 million to groups working in both the Great Lakes and Southeast.

Bruce Carpenter, NYRU executive director, has been closely involved with many dam relicensings in New York state.

“Initially, relicensing was very adversarial,” he said. “The relicensing process has led communities, agencies, tribes and other constituents to develop a much broader respect for the operations of an entire watershed."

But as all parties, from government officials to citizens to non-governmental organizations to the power companies came together, it became clear to everyone that a collaborative course was beneficial to all involved, Carpenter said.

New York recently completed the last major relicensing for some time in the Great Lakes basin with the Niagara Power Project, just downstream from Niagara Falls. Although this was one of the largest, most complex processes to date, the relicensing was completed in a timely fashion, thanks to experience gained from earlier projects.

“The power company took its time and everyone had a voice,” Carpenter said. “In the end, the improvements to the project and the mitigation enhancement were tremendous, and they will last for the next 50 years.”

Robbin Marks, American Rivers senior director, has seen similar progress across the country.

“The process is different now than when we started,” she said. “A lot of important precedents with public participation and environmental protection have been established. We have also been able to use this very complex process of hydropower relicensing as a river restoration tool, and that is significant.”

The long-lasting benefits can include restored fisheries, improved recreation, better water quality and restoration of rivers as a community asset.

In New York, those collaborative efforts have had a positive ripple effect, impacting not only rivers, but entire watersheds as well, Carpenter said.

“The dams have now become one point in what has become a much larger focus. In my opinion, this has been one of the most successful environmental restoration efforts to date,” he said.

LIVE EARTH concerts put spotlight on Amazon Watch project

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT

By Maggie I. Jaruzel

The work of Amazon Watch, a California-based Mott grantee, was highlighted during the recently televised global LIVE EARTH concerts. A 60-second Public Service Announcement (PSA), narrated by actor Martin Sheen, described efforts to protect Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest.

The PSA aired several times, generating broad interest in the international campaign to save Yasuni National Park, one of the most bio-diverse ecosystems on the planet, said Atossa Soltani, executive director of Amazon Watch, an international nongovernmental organization that supports the efforts of indigenous communities to protect the Amazon environment.

"The public response so far has been impressive. We have received hundreds of emails from peopl eager to take action to protect the Amazon. It's been incredible exposure for the Amazon issue," Soltani said.

Mott's Environment program, through its International Finance for Sustainability focus area, promotes environmentally sustainable development and supports greater public participation in the economic decisionmaking process of international financial institutions (IFIs). Since 1999, the Foundation has made five grants totaling $808,333, to Amazon Watch to support its IFI programs.

Amazon Watch’s short televised clip highlights a plan by Ecuador President Rafael Correa to avoid drilling in Yasuni National Park. He has proposed keeping the country’s oil in the ground in exchange for financial commitments from the international community to offset the lost oil revenues, estimated to range from $2 billion to $3.5 billion.

If those funds are secured, the government has pledged to invest the money in sustainable social development programs for people living in the rainforest because their lives have already been negatively impacted by previous oil projects in the region.

According to Soltani, in addition to creating health and social problems for people, oil drilling causes serious environmental damage. For example, drilling is not possible without tremendous deforestation. Globally, tropical deforestation is responsible for between 20 percent and 25 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Halting deforestation in the Amazon rainforest would be a key component of any plan to tackle global warming, Soltani said, adding that the Amazon rainforest plays a critical role in regulating global climate.

“The Amazon rainforest helps to create rain clouds that water farmers’ fields from Argentina to Iowa and helps power the trans-oceanic air currents. The livelihoods of millions of people are dependent upon those currents.”