An Alternative to Unbundling Ecosystem Services

There is a lot of interest in developing multiple types of credits, or offsets, from compensatory mitigation and conservation projects. Onlookers can readily see this push from articles and letters on Ecosystem Marketplace’s website or from the titles of presentations at the National Mitigation and Ecosystem Banking Conference. Some call this credit stacking (see J.B. Ruhl’s column in the January-February 2010 National Wetlands Newsletter), while others refer it to as credit bundling. Regardless of the definitions or terms used, the focus is on marketing multiple offsets derived from functions or services produced from a single parcel of land—for instance marketing carbon sequestration, water quality improvement, and habitat services separately from compensatory mitigation.