As part of our expanding Conservation Economics Initiative, CSF held our first webinar last month in collaboration with the Marine Ecosystem Services Partnership (MESP) at Duke University. Brian Murray, Director for Economic Analysis from the Duke Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, discussed carbon sequestration benefits in terrestrial and marine ecosystems. He explained how payment programs might apply to forest, marine and coastal ecosystems, what kind of economic value this might add for keeping these systems intact and whether this may be sufficient to forestall their loss. Participants from around the world attended and had the opportunity to ask questions electronically to the presenter. The webinar was moderated by Linwood Pendleton from the Nicholas School's Ocean and Coastal Policy Program.

Don't worry if you missed it; the webinar can be streamed or downloaded by clicking here (the actual discussion begins around 4 minutes 35 seconds). To be kept informed of future webinars as part of this series, fill out this short form. CSF course graduates will automatically be informed of all webinars. 

Mark you calendars for our next (no-cost!) webinar in collaboration with Duke's Marine Ecosystem Services Partnership:

• Impact evaluation of conservation programs with MESP and CSF
  • Wednesday, April 23, 2014 6:00 pm EST
  • Speaker: Jeffery Vincent, Duke University
  • This talk will discuss the need to embed impact evaluations of conservation programs in a more comprehensive economic framework. Impact evaluations typically pay no attention to heterogeneity in the costs and benefits of conservation programs, but such heterogeneity is fundamental to conservation decisions. On their own, the results of impact evaluations offer little guidance for conservation decisions. They must be combined with information on costs and benefits: evaluation must be combined with valuation.

Registration for this webinar is not yet open; we will distribute more information on registration as soon as it is available.

To learn more about CSF's Conservation Economics Initiative, click here.