RESTORE Council Suggests Solution to Louisiana's Estuaries

In time for National Estuaries Week Sept. 17 to 24, 2016, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration (RESTORE) Council recommended creative conservation financing as a strategy to save Louisiana’s threatened estuaries.

According to the council’s recently released comprehensive plan, "private sector and non-profit entities are actively exploring new and innovative ways to bring capital to restoration activities … the council welcomes these potential partners and is interested in exploring ways in which such endeavors can potentially help the council advance its mission."

America’s WETLAND Foundation (AWF) recognizes this strategy as a workable solution to the challenge. AWF is an advocate for public-private partnerships as a mechanism to increase restoration funding through innovative financing and transitional projects, ultimately protecting the coast and ensuring the success of long-term, large-scale wetland restoration projects. With Louisiana at the epicenter of wetlands loss in the U.S.—losing an equivalent of a football field of land every hour—AWF believes creative conservation financing is one way to turn back the tide.

The council's recommendations will be highlighted during one of two roundtables in October hosted by AWF and Louisiana's Coastal Protection & Restoration Authority (CPRA). The meetings will inform a larger coastal summit in December.

"These roundtables will explore creative conservation financing, including making mitigation good business for restoration and land-based environmental offset markets," said Val Marmillion, AWF managing director. "We will also focus on how to ensure the new master plan's operational success and move past contentious issues that could delay its progress."

Source: America's WETLAND Foundation