Emily Barbo

Symposium 2023 Cross-cutting Theme: Urgency & Scale

May 23, 2024

The Salazar Center’s fifth International Symposium on Conservation Impact focused on how to achieve a nature-positive future together, to catapult our communities towards durable, high-impact outcomes for climate, biodiversity, and human well-being.

We brought together diverse thought leaders to share ideas and best practices for moving beyond individual pilot projects to build lasting systems change for nature and communities across North America. Our two-day dialogue elevated the interconnectedness of biodiversity loss and climate change, both in terms of their impacts and solutions, while highlighting how a nature-based approach can enhance the resilience of both our planet and society. By design, we assembled speakers with varied expertise and backgrounds to showcase the breadth of differing, and sometimes contrarian, opinions and ideas related to our theme. Our intent with this approach was to facilitate our attendees’ ability to deepen their understanding of the issues and perhaps challenge their perspectives.

The 2023 Symposium Synthesis Report summarizes five cross-cutting themes that emerged from the Symposium, as well as key takeaways from each session. The themes reflect ideas, needs, and opportunities raised multiple times by speakers or attendees. Like the interconnectedness of biodiversity and climate, each theme is also connected to the next. Together, they help illuminate potential shared pathways to enrich biodiversity and build long-term, stable societies and healthy economies across North America.

Don’t have time to read the full report? No problem! We’ve broken it down so you can focus on what resonates the most right now.

Cross-cutting Theme: Urgency & Scale

“We can win on this.” – Sacha Spector

Throughout the Symposium, participants expressed a deep urgency to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, and interconnected and converging threats. At the same time, we must balance this urgency with the need to deliver the right outcomes, which can take significant time. Our speakers also recognized that as a conservation community, we have never had as much federal government support as we do now. So, how do we leverage this moment of federal momentum to create change and spur a ‘restoration economy’ that can outlast changes in political support or administrations? We need to push the kinds of catalytic, transformative systems change that will connect the people on the ground to resources equitably and effectively.

Closely tied to the discussion of urgency was the notion of scale. We have many effective tools and model projects. Are we missing opportunities to meet the urgency of the moment because we are not scaling already-proven NBS work? Conversely, many Symposium speakers cautioned that there are no ‘silver arrow solutions,’ and trying to scale place-based projects to new areas may not work. Scaling needs to be understood within the project’s local context. Our conservation community should also consider focusing on replicating and scaling effective processes across communities facing similar challenges rather than trying to replicate projects. Getting to scale will require tailoring strategies to place and people while applying the process and techniques that we know are effective.

Engaging the next generation of conservation leaders

As we continue to strive for equitable nature-based solutions, speakers repeatedly raised the need for the conservation community to focus on the role that youth can play in shaping solutions. Not only will today’s youth have to shoulder the burdens of decisions made by previous generations, but younger generations also are a source of ideas and innovation. We have a meaningful opportunity to integrate Indigenous youth’s TEK by addressing institutional barriers that have prevented their participation in traditional conservation fields. Building stronger intergenerational equity can help lead to more durable nature-based solutions and better support for future generations.

Lastly, we heard throughout the Symposium that there is a need to resolve potential conflicts between climate and biodiversity solutions. We cannot let our greater sense of urgency around climate change supersede concerns about biodiversity protection or, worse, negatively impact biodiversity protection goals and equitable outcomes for communities. Good, effective policies will fully analyze and prioritize the impacts of climate solutions to ensure there are no unintended consequences for biodiversity, ecosystems, and communities.

Download the full 2023 Symposium Synthesis Report

Jennifer Kovecses

Celebrating biodiversity action – conservation works; we should do more of it!

May 21, 2024

“Biodiversity starts in the distant past and it points toward the future.”
– Frans Lanting

At the heart of everything we do at The Salazar Center is finding equitable and inclusive solutions to reversing the loss of biodiversity. So, we love a good excuse to elevate and celebrate nature’s critical role in our lives. In this light, the International Day of Biodiversity resonates deeply with our values. For almost a quarter century, the United Nations has gathered the world to celebrate this day with the sole intent of increasing our collective understanding and awareness of biodiversity.

Supporting conservation work that protects and restores biodiversity matters. Recent studies have found that globally, almost $44 trillion of economic value generation – over half the world’s total GDP – is moderately or highly dependent on nature. Biodiversity loss is also deeply linked to human health worldwide. And yet, sometimes doing the work of conservation can feel daunting, even Sisyphean. That is why we were so encouraged to see the results from a recent meta-analysis of over 180 conservation interventions published in Science. The researchers found that in two-thirds of cases, the interventions either improved biodiversity or slowed declines. Not only did they find that the interventions were effective, but they also had large, measurable impacts.

A few things really stood out to me as I read this article. First, the results were not restricted to one type of conservation intervention. Impact was found across a spectrum of project types. Similarly, the positive impact was not restricted to one geography or ecosystem type. This shows that the tools that are already in our toolbox can and should be deployed in more places. Results such as this show that our work is not Sisyphean, and there are solid, science-backed reasons to keep doing the work. Turns out conservation works, and we should do more of it!

But as we consider how to scale up the conservation work necessary to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, we need to think about doing more of it in a way that centers people and the expertise embedded in local communities. We heard this clarion call repeatedly at our last International Symposium on Conservation Impact. When we work to convene conservation thought leaders or work to build the capacity of practitioners to lift their projects off the ground, we are always working with that lens in mind. We believe that getting to durable conservation solutions can only happen when the people on the ground – from all walks of life – are heard, empowered, and have the resources to make change happen.

This year’s International Day of Biodiversity theme is “Be Part of the Plan”. This represents a call to action for everyone around the globe to do something – big or small – to contribute to protecting biodiversity. We could not agree more! But everyone needs to be part of the plan and our policies and funding need to recognize, incentivize and support that vision of inclusive action.

From the United Nations:

The United Nations has proclaimed May 22 the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. When first created by the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly in late 1993, 29 December (the date of entry into force of the Convention of Biological Diversity), was designated The International Day for Biological Diversity. In December 2000, the UN General Assembly adopted 22 May as IDB, to commemorate the adoption of the text of the Convention on 22 May 1992 by the Nairobi Final Act of the Conference for the Adoption of the Agreed Text of the Convention on Biological Diversity. This was partly done because it was difficult for many countries to plan and carry out suitable celebrations for the date of 29 December, given the number of holidays that coincide around that time of year.

Emily Barbo

Symposium 2023 Cross-cutting Theme: Empower

May 16, 2024

Don’t have time to read the full report? No problem! We’ve broken it down so you can focus on what resonates the most right now.

Cross-cutting Theme: Empower

“A vision without resources is little more than a hallucination.” – Àngel Peña

Despite unprecedented financial commitments by federal governments, we still face an enormous financing gap in achieving our climate and biodiversity goals. This is true globally and in North America, with an estimated global Biodiversity Financing Gap of $598-824 billion USD annually. While philanthropy has made large investments in NBS, we still do not have sufficient, equitably distributed financial resources to meet this moment. We need a cross-sector, all-of-government approach to find creative ways to support this work.

Building financial sustainability for NBS through private-sector investment

We heard consensus that much of the private sector supports investing in NBS and is pivoting their operations to intentionally support it. Still, significant barriers remain to the private sector’s investment in more impactful and innovative approaches and projects. Those barriers include a lack of consensus and transparency around systems for assessing risk and the impact of the work, especially when it comes to biodiversity. A clearer understanding of cost-benefit in relationship to biodiversity and to its associated metrics is needed to accelerate effective private-sector investment. Private sector companies have already implemented the easier, low-hanging fruit of NBS projects. Now they need help tackling the more challenging and complex ones. Importantly, the corporate sector needs better processes for working with frontline communities meaningfully.

Speakers reflected upon emerging carbon and biodiversity markets and how these markets can potentially supply ‘additive’ funds. However, practitioners remain concerned about these markets’ overall transparency and accountability. International efforts such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the Science-based Targets Initiative are working to help alleviate these concerns through transparent and durable reporting mechanisms. There is a tremendous need for cross-sector trust-building so that practitioners can be confident that claims of market benefits for people and nature accrue equitably and are measurable and meaningful. While funding sources, like environmental markets, are important, practitioners and policymakers can do more with existing funding sources. How can we be creative with the existing monetary sources to stack funding to drive greater and longer-lasting impacts?

The finance and corporate sectors need a clearer understanding of the benefits of biodiversity protection and how biodiversity loss puts investment at risk. This knowledge gap creates a barrier to further biodiversity investment from the finance sector. Additional data and messaging regarding biodiversity co-benefits and metrics to support tracking those co-benefits are deeply needed.

One critical opportunity that speakers raised concerning financing NBS projects is that we should not just focus on developing novel tools like environmental markets but also consider how existing financial instruments are barriers to delivering positive outcomes for biodiversity and climate efforts. We need to reform financial subsidies that harm nature and exacerbate climate impacts, such as those for fossil fuels and large-scale agriculture. This will require collaborating with policymakers across North America to examine and dismantle subsidy programs that inadvertently provide obstacles to their national and international climate and biodiversity goals.

Disinvestment in Frontline Communities

Throughout the dialogue, speakers highlighted the importance of recognizing the expertise and human capital that already exist within frontline communities. Frontline communities know what they need and have ideas for solutions to meet their communities’ challenges, but these communities often lack investment. One barrier to investment is the spatial mismatch between community-led projects and environmental markets. Investors typically require larger spatial scales for investment, while most community-led projects operate at much smaller scales. For example, the Blue Carbon projects highlighted at the Symposium struggle to access carbon markets because they are small and not aggregated.

There is a strong need to create and support a pipeline of projects ready for investment. Finally, we must develop better processes for equitable benefit sharing of financing efforts like carbon or biodiversity markets. While this is true for all frontline communities, speakers stressed a particular need for working with Indigenous communities on benefit sharing of these market and other financing tools.

Download the full 2023 Symposium Synthesis Report

Emily Barbo

Symposium 2023 Cross-cutting Theme: Fostering Relationships

May 2, 2024

Don’t have time to read the full report? No problem! We’ve broken it down so you can focus on what resonates the most right now.

Cross-cutting Theme: Fostering Relationships

“Progress moves at the speed of trust.” – James Rattling Leaf

The value of rooting our climate and biodiversity work in relationship-building reverberated powerfully throughout the Symposium. Despite the urgency of the climate and biodiversity crises, speakers encouraged the conservation community to slow down and intentionally build meaningful relationships with partners and leaders from across sectors and organizations, and particularly with the frontline and Indigenous communities who are central to this work. Creating an effective and truly inclusive NBS community necessitates a deeper understanding of and ability to communicate with all those touched by the biodiversity and climate crises to develop shared values and a common language. For North America to reach a nature-positive future, we must lead with community and create solutions built on a foundation of trust.

The knowledge and understanding of frontline communities and Indigenous peoples are foundational to building successful strategies for addressing climate and biodiversity risks and implementing effective nature-based solutions. Community-driven data is as important as the data derived from conventional Western science, and achieving a nature-positive future will be difficult without fully incorporating these diverse sources of expertise.

As we work towards building better relationships within and across the conservation field, several speakers highlighted the value of leaning into discomfort. Accommodating difficult conversations will help us reimagine the systems driving the climate and biodiversity crises. Globally, Indigenous peoples manage 80% of the remaining intact biodiversity. This is both a challenge and an opportunity to build bridges that connect Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and practices with the culture and systems of the dominant society. Perhaps we should reframe thinking about NBS as thinking about Indigenous-based solutions. However, if we are to do that, we must first resolve the roots of conflict between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples through a process of reconciliation.

Ethical Space is a key mechanism to enable successful reconciliation, which provides the means for respectful government-to-government dialogue and to deeply “understand what is important to be understood… and create something new.”

Download the full 2023 Symposium Synthesis Report

Emily Barbo

Symposium 2023 Cross-cutting Theme: Systems Change

April 24, 2024

Don’t have time to read the full report? No problem! We’ve broken it down so you can focus on what resonates the most right now.

Cross-cutting Theme: Systems Change

“Nature-positive, carbon-negative, justice-forward.” – Sacha Spector

As a community of practice, our end goal should be a “nature-positive, carbon-negative, justice-forward” society. To achieve this, we need to break out of our silos and broaden our project-scale thinking to reimagine and redesign the underlying relationships between nature, climate, and community. We must address the root causes of biodiversity loss and climate change rather than merely reacting to them.

Throughout the Symposium, speakers articulated the need for ‘multi-solving.’ In other words, we must recognize the interconnected drivers behind biodiversity loss and climate change and seek to implement policies and projects with the potential to address multiple threats across the climate-nature-equity space when possible. There is sufficient evidence that nature can mitigate and sometimes reverse climate impacts while providing social, economic, and ecological co-benefits. Nature underpins our economy and well-being in North America. For example, data shows that nature-based solutions (NBS) can cost-effectively provide 37% of the CO2 mitigation we need by 2030 to give us a meaningful chance of holding warming to below two degrees Celsius. Similarly, nature-based solutions are critical to reversing biodiversity decline. By focusing on implementing solutions that address multiple challenges, we drive the changes necessary to foster durable, positive systems change.

Wicked problems require interdisciplinary solutions

Tied to the theme of ‘multi-solving,’ Symposium participants unequivocally called for ‘mainstreaming’ biodiversity and NBS in all planning, implementation, and policy processes. While we’ve seen unprecedented progress within our conservation community and natural resource agencies to implement nature-based solutions, mainstreaming the protection and regeneration of biodiversity will require incorporating nature-based solutions into the planning, management, and policies of all sectors and agencies. As noted by many speakers, success will come only when climate change and nature are embraced within a whole-of-government approach to solving this twin crisis.

This idea was similarly elevated for non-government sectors. To create transformative change, we need to enable lasting solutions to our climate and biodiversity crises. All sectors need to treat climate and biodiversity as foundational to their operations and supply chains. We must break down the various silos limiting our ability to evolve and enable lasting solutions. This requires reaching beyond the traditional conservation community and thinking deeply about other segments of society, including the business, banking, and finance sectors, agriculture, energy, and rural and urban communities.

A related theme resonated across our two-day dialogue as vital to systems change: the importance of keeping people and communities at the center of the work. Speakers acknowledged that progress has been made to weave equity into federal policy, conservation practice, and corporate efforts while recognizing that we have not yet fully institutionalized equity and community co-benefits into our government, conservation, and corporate systems. To succeed in the long run, Indigenous and frontline communities must have the agency to co-create solutions and ensure that benefits are equitably shared. They must become integral to the development of practices, policies, and institutions to advance positive climate and biodiversity outcomes. No longer can solutions come at the expense of the livelihoods and well-being of marginalized communities. To achieve this, we need to consider how we break down and re-assemble the systems that kept so many communities out of the conversation in the first place.

Download the full Synthesis Report

Emily Barbo

Symposium Speaker: Joe Neguse

October 2, 2023

The Salazar Center is proud to announce that Congressman Joe Neguse, Colorado’s 2nd District, U.S. House of Representatives, will be joining us in Denver, Colorado for the fifth-annual International Symposium on Conservation Impact.

Representative Joe Neguse has served as the Congressman for Colorado’s 2nd District in the U.S. House since being first elected in November 2018. He currently serves as Chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), the No. 5 elected position in House Leadership, and is the first Coloradan to serve in senior leadership in over 85 years.

During his three-terms in the House, the Congressman has earned national praise for his ability to craft and enact legislation, and as the former Chairman of the Public Lands Subcommittee, has been identified as one of the most effective legislators in the Congress. He has had 22 pieces of legislation signed into law, by presidents of both political parties, and has been recognized nationally as one of the most bipartisan lawmakers in the country, including through his role as Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Wildfire Caucus. He currently serves as a member of the Natural Resources, Judiciary, and Rules Committees.

Before being elected to Congress, Rep. Neguse led Colorado’s consumer protection and business regulatory agency as a member of then-Governor John Hickenlooper’s Cabinet and Executive Director of the Department of Regulatory Agencies. An attorney and civic leader, Rep. Neguse also served six years on the University of Colorado Board of Regents, where he earned his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, and Juris Doctorate.

The 2nd Congressional District, which is geographically larger than eight U.S. states, is home to both of Colorado’s major research universities and includes suburban cities, rural communities, and the most iconic mountain towns in America. The district spans 11 counties in Northern and Western Colorado, stretching up to the Wyoming border and west across the Continental Divide, and includes Fort Collins, Longmont, Boulder, Vail and Steamboat Springs, among many other communities.

Resources:

Rep. Neguse Introduces Bipartisan Legislative Package to Improve Water Resilience in the West

Emily Barbo

Symposium Speaker: Crystal Upperman

October 2, 2023

The Salazar Center is proud to announce that Crystal Upperman, Senior Manager, Deloitte, will be joining us in Denver, Colorado for the fifth-annual International Symposium on Conservation Impact.

Dr. Crystal Romeo Upperman is a Senior Manager at Deloitte in the Government and Public Services practice helping to bring best-in-class sustainability, climate adaptation, and climate equity support to clients. In her role, she advises on the firm’s go-to-market strategy as part of the Sustainability, Climate, and Equity strategic growth offering. Presently she serves as a review editor for the 5th National Climate Assessment (NCA5)—which evaluates the impacts of global change across the United States—and she serves on the executive committee for the U.S. EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors in the Office of Research and Development.

Crystal was formerly Vice President at AECOM leading climate resilience, social performance, and ESG for the Americas where she established a new portfolio of business centered on addressing climate equity and environmental justice across all business lines. She worked in tech at a San Francisco startup leading business strategy for air quality monitoring and equity mapping at Aclima. While at Aclima, she spearheaded the development of a climate and economic justice screening tool, developed meth for the integration of environmental health characterization within the platform and led external business development with private and public sector clients.

Prior, she was a Research Associate at the World Resources Institute on the Global Commission on Adaptation—which demonstrated that adapting to climate change improves human well-being and results in better, more sustainable economic development and security for all. Previous professional experiences span several notable organizations and institutions including serving as a consultant at the World Bank conducting research on sustainable agricultural development in China, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Crystal spent 4 years with the Maryland Department of Health leading the U.S. CDC’s Building Resilience Against Climate Effects grant that identified climate impacts and associated health effects in Maryland communities. She also worked for the District of Columbia’s Department of Health regulating the safe use and transport of radiation emitting devices across the district.

Her other prior experiences include extensive laboratory research in environmental remediation and catalyst products with years of regulatory compliance in air and radiation protection at the state levels. She began her career at BASF researching catalyst coatings for reducing vehicle emissions. Crystal’s research focus is in environmental science, exposure science and spatial epidemiology. Her research background includes a national assessment of the impact of climate change on chronic respiratory disease prevalence, which was funded by the US EPA. She has engaged in research projects that entail health risk assessment of climate and weather hazards, exposure assessment of pollen and extreme heat, environmental science translational research to promote sustainability and positive environmental and public health policies.

Crystal is a Trustee for The Nature Conservancy’s Maryland/DC chapter, a board member for WE ACT, a member of the advisory board for APHA’s Center for Climate, Health, and Equity, and a Steering Committee Member for the Environmental Law Institute’s (ELI) Emerging Leaders Initiative. This past presidential election cycle, she served on the Biden-Harris Campaign’s Climate, Energy, Environment policy committee and contributed to the Resilience and Environmental Justice subcommittees.

She earned a PhD in Marine, Estuarine, and Environmental Science from the University of Maryland as a U.S. EPA STAR Fellow and a National Science Foundation LSAMP Fellow. She holds a MPA in Nonprofit Management from Kennesaw State University and a BS in Environmental Science from Spelman College. Crystal hails from Trenton, NJ and spent her early formative years in the Caribbean islands of Trinidad & Tobago.

Resources:

Climate equity – Discovering the next frontier in outcome measurement in government

Emily Barbo

Symposium Speaker: Angela Kemsley

October 2, 2023

The Salazar Center is proud to announce that Angela Kemsley, Conservation Director, WILDCOAST, will be joining us in Denver, Colorado for the fifth-annual International Symposium on Conservation Impact.

Based in San Diego, California, Angie leads WILDCOAST’s conservation projects in the United States including marine protected area (MPA) compliance initiatives, MPA Watch, marine monitor radar, wetland restoration, carbon sampling and research, climate action planning, ocean-related policy, and marine debris interception and removal projects. She joined WILDCOAST’s MPA team in 2017 as the statewide coordinator of the MPA Watch Community Science Program. In 2018, Angela assumed the role of Conservation Development Manager, before expanding her position to include communications. Prior to joining WILDCOAST, Angela worked for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, facilitating community-based conservation projects in northwest Mexico as well as leading tours of the San Diego Zoo. Angela also worked in the outdoor education department of the San Diego County Office of Education in addition to numerous field research positions throughout North and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe. Angela holds a B.S. in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution and a B.A. in Biological Anthropology from UC-San Diego and an M.A. in Biology from Miami University in Ohio.

Newly emerging science points to tidal salt marshes and seagrass beds as carbon sequestration powerhouses, potentially storing up to 50 times the carbon of a rainforest. WILDCOAST recently founded the Blue Carbon Collaborative: a network of organizations and individuals representing science, technology, and policy with a common goal to identify gaps and standardize practices surrounding blue carbon conservation, research, policy and resources. Coastal and marine ecosystems such as mangrove forests, wetlands and seagrass areas have great potential for carbon sequestration. These blue carbon ecosystems are a natural solution to climate change. Stemming from their conservation work on mangroves in Mexico, WILDCOAST began examining wetlands in California as potential opportunities for natural solutions. Through the Collaborative, WILDCOAST has identified a need for collaboration around blue carbon research and policy in California.

Emily Barbo

Symposium Speaker: Kevin Maddaford

July 14, 2023

The Salazar Center is proud to announce that Kevin Maddaford will be joining us in Denver, Colorado for the fifth-annual International Symposium on Conservation Impact.

Kevin is the US & Canada Carbon Markets Director at The Nature Conservancy, where he provides strategic leadership and support for state chapters and Nature United (TNC’s affiliate in Canada) to develop and market high-quality carbon projects across various natural climate solutions pathways and advance the integrity of carbon markets. He works closely with TNC’s Global Carbon Markets team to coordinate implementation of TNC’s carbon strategy in support of TNC’s 2030 goals. Prior to joining TNC, Kevin spent 15 years in the private sector, managing procurement of environmental commodities on behalf of organizations and advising them on decarbonization strategies.

Prior to joining The Nature Conservancy, Kevin worked for 15 years in the private sector, leading sourcing of carbon credits and energy attribute certificates from projects around the world on behalf of voluntary market end-users and advising those organizations on strategies for the procurement and proper use of environmental commodities in their decarbonization strategies.

Kevin graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a B.A. in philosophy and German studies. Kevin lives in the Denver, Colorado area and enjoys hiking, snowboarding, camping and making music with family and friends.

Emily Barbo

Symposium Speaker: Shaun O’Rourke

June 21, 2023

The Salazar Center is proud to announce that Shaun O’Rourke will be joining us in Denver, Colorado for the fifth-annual International Symposium on Conservation Impact.

Shaun is a Director on the Water Climate and Finance Team at Quantified Ventures (QV) focused on accelerating nature-based solution projects through innovative funding and financing approaches. He has more than 15 years of climate leadership in the public, private, non-profit, and academic sectors. Prior to joining QV, he was the Managing Director at Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and was appointed by Governor Raimondo as the state’s first Chief Resilience Officer. In this role, he led the development and implementation of the climate resilience action strategy, Resilient Rhody. The strategy resulted in over $45 million in new, dedicated funding for climate resilience projects during the first four years. Shaun worked closely with Rhode Island’s congressional delegation and state legislature to advocate for priority projects and direct federal funds for clean energy and climate resilience projects.

Additionally, Shaun has served as the National Green Infrastructure Director at The Trust for Public Land and Director of Sustainable Design and faculty member at the Boston Architectural College.

He is passionate about working with municipalities, counties, and states to accelerate implementation of nature-based solutions to solve multiple problems at once. He and his family live in Northern Vermont and in his free time, Shaun can be found playing in the mountains.

The Water and Climate Finance team at QV partners with communities and organizations from all sectors to deliver clean water, climate mitigation, and community resilience solutions to improve the wellbeing of people and planet. They work with their clients to identify and secure capital to catalyze and scale environmental infrastructure and nature-based solution projects.