Ecosystem services marketing is an initiative aimed at creating monetary value for benefits provided by forests and other natural areas. Landowners maintain their forests as forests—by receiving income from those that benefit from the services provided by their land. Potential services that can be marketed and transacted include biodiversity, carbon, and watershed. Click below to learn more.

While these markets are in their infancy and still emerging, a 2010 survey conducted by TFS indicated that Texas landowners are interested in learning more and possibly participating in these new market opportunities.

Environmental Credit Marketing Survey (August 2010)

• Executive Summary
• Full Report

Biodiversity markets generally focus on habitat conservation and restoration projects. These markets are designed to lessen the impact on biodiversity resulting from various activities, and are driven by regulatory policy of “no net loss.” Biodiversity impacts can be offset by purchasing credits from conservation/mitigation banks for wetlands, streams and threatened or endangered species.

• Species Banking
• U.S. Wetland Compensatory Mitigation
• Mitigation Banking Factsheet
• U.S. Conservation Banking
• Conservation Banking
• Conservation Banking: Moving Beyond California

Carbon markets, either voluntary or compliance based, focus on reducing or offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. Offsets represent the reduction, avoidance or sequestration of one metric ton of carbon dioxide. Forests have the ability to store and sequester carbon from the atmosphere and can generate offsets that can be transacted on these markets.

• Carbon Markets: One-Page Factsheet
• Carbon Markets: Glossary of Terms
• Forest Carbon Portal
• State Lands Carbon
• Forestland Carbon 

Watershed markets and payments direct money to natural water infrastructure for water quality and quantity. These markets may serve to facilitate the delivery of clean and reliable drinking water, manage stormwater and flood control or improve water quality as directed by regulatory policy.

• Watershed Connect