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NESP Webinar: Policy Applications of Natural Capital Accounts in the U.S.
Watch the recording here.
Listen to part two of NESP’s webinar series on natural capital accounts (NCA). The first covered piloting natural capital accounts for land, water, ecosystems, and urban ecosystem services. This second webinar covered three examples of policy applications for NCA. Eli Fenichel (Office of Science and Technology Policy) shared the Biden-Harris Administration’s high-level vision for natural capital accounting and associated environmental-economic accounts; Carter Ingram (The Pollination Group) discussed opportunities for the private sector to utilize and support SEEA-aligned natural capital accounts; and Kirsten Oleson (University of Hawai'i) introduced Hawai'i's water and coastal accounts and the potential pathways to using them in economic policy, sustainability dashboards, and conservation planning.
NESP Publication: Sea Level Rise Drives Carbon and Habitat Loss in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic Coastal Zone
Coastal marshes and seagrass beds store millions of tons of carbon in their sediments and sequester carbon at higher per-area rates than most terrestrial ecosystems. There is substantial interest in this "blue carbon" as a carbon mitigation strategy, despite the major threat that sea level rise (SLR) poses to these habitats. Many projections of habitat and carbon change with SLR emphasize the potential for inland marsh migration and increased rates of marsh carbon sequestration, but do not consider carbon fluxes associated with habitat conversion. This study integrates existing data and models to develop a spatial model for predicting habitat and carbon changes due to SLR in six mid-Atlantic U.S. states likely to face coastal habitat loss over the next century due to low tidal ranges and sediment supply.
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