The North Florida Land Trust is about to release its annual list of threatened lands that are a priority for purchase.
In this week’s “Business Brief,” analyst John Burr tells WJCT News Director Jessica Palombo the nonprofit is trying a new strategy to attract businesses and governments to invest in environmental conservation.
Burr spoke with Land Trust Executive Director Jim McCarthy about a trend called “ecosystem services,” the idea of assigning dollar amounts to the services performed by natural resources. For instance, a wetland filters out pollutants like nitrogen at such a high rate that doing away with it would require a city to build a waste-treatment plant.
That return on investment—a constant target for Florida’s Republican leaders—is helping businesses and governments alike understand why it’s important to invest in conservation.
