Publications
Protocol for the Issuance of Voluntary Biodiversity Units - Version 4.0
Terrasos - 2024
Whitepaper - Strengthening the integrity, credibility, and effectiveness of terrasos biodiversity units through the application of distributed ledger technology.
Terrasos - 2024
Biocredits and Habitat Banks: Rethinking the Development and Maintenance of Ecological Infrastructure
Terrasos - 2024
The notion of nature as critical infrastructure that must be restored and maintained has historically been confined more to theory and academia than put into practice. However, recently, many governments, non governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector have created new f inancial mechanisms that are beginning to ensure the appropriate investment in our natural infrastructure. The Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework indicates that $600-800 billion per year will be needed by 2030 to close the biodiversity funding gap. This sum of money can only be generated by valuing nature properly and creating markets that will mobilise private, public and institutional capital.
Analysis of opportunities and barriers to the creation of habitat banks as an environmental compensation tool in Mexico
Terrasos - 2024
Opportunities and Barriers for the Creation of Habitat Banks as an Environmental Compensation Tool in Brazil
Terrasos - 2024
Integrating voluntary biodiversity credits into conservation projects: Lessons from Colombia and Ethiopia.
Terrasos - 2024
Habitat Banks: Sustainable Solution for Biodiversity in Colombia and the World.
Terrasos - 2024
A comparative analysis reveals how countries such as Colombia, Australia, and the United States lead in the protection of natural areas through habitat banks.
Biodiversity Credits - An opportunity to create a new crediting framework for nature markets.
Terrasos - 2023
This paper argues that biodiversity credit systems require a different architecture than the carbon market. Carbon and biodiversity are fundamentally different problems with distinct solutions, and their respective crediting systems need to accommodate that difference for technical, social and practical reasons. The authors highlight seven key considerations that should be taken into account in the development of a biodiversity credit system.
Infographic: Habitat banks for the protection of life and biodiversity.
Terrasos - 2023
This infographic breaks down the fundamental aspects of Habitat Banks in Colombia. It presents a synthesis of what they are, how they work and what their advantages are; shows the most relevant milestones for their development; points out the rules under which they operate and identifies opportunities for improvement in regulation.
Habitat banks for the protection of life and biodiversity: compensations that sustain and generate development.
Terrasos - 2023
Habitat banks are a solution to help close the biodiversity funding gap in Colombia and the world. This document highlights the immense potential of Habitat Banks not only to ensure lasting and measurable conservation, but also to advance the country's environmental goals. It also highlights the need for clear policies to maximize this potential, ensuring sustainability and fostering economic development.
Executive Summary - Protocol for the Issuance of Voluntary Biodiversity Credits
Terrasos - 2022
This executive summary offers a quick and complete overview of the definitions necessary for the design and operation of conservation projects that are interested in issuing Voluntary Biodiversity Credits under the principles of integrity offered by the “Protocol for the Issuance of Voluntary Biodiversity Credits”. In this way, it contributes to the construction of long-term sustainable projects that generate environmental, social and economic value in the territories where they are developed.
The Protocol for the Issuance of Voluntary Biodiversity Credits (Beta Version)
Updated November 2022
Given the need to create and energize projects that ensure the recovery of biodiversity and contribute significantly to international goals, the “Protocol for the Issuance of Voluntary Biodiversity Credits” was created. This Protocol seeks to promote the structuring of exceptional conservation projects, providing criteria for their design and operation, which adopt conservation measures based on areas of great ecological value, and are managed on the basis of financial, legal and technical guarantees. Likewise, we consider that this Protocol will allow mobilizing public and private environmental investments to generate a Biodiversity Credits market, which will allow projects and their actions to be sustainable in the long term and generate environmental, social and economic value in the territories where they are developed.
Aventura Biodiversa: A journey through Colombia's ecosystems
It is for this reason that we present Aventura Biodiversa. A journey through the ecosystems of Colombia, a scientific booklet with a pedagogical and didactic approach to generate conversations about how important it is to take care of the great natural wealth we have.
The Travel Log of our primer will lead you to find a glossary, which aims to provide a definition of the usual technical concepts in the publication, a tour of the ecosystems of Colombia and the biodiversity that inhabits it, as well as activities to draw or write and a section that allows us to delve into the Habitat Banks, a commitment of Terrasos for the environmental conservation of the country.
Biodiversity Credits: Unlocking financial markets for positive outcomes for nature.
Event Proceedings - Habitat Banks: Experiences in implementing 1% offsetting and investment and a new economics of biodiversity conservation.
Terrasos - 2022
This document presents the proceedings of the event held on March 11, 2022, in partnership with Terrasos, ANDI's National Water and Biodiversity Center and Partnerships for Forests (P4F).
Invited guests OCENSA and the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.
Habitat Banks are a strategy for the recovery and conservation of Colombia's ecosystems as well as an efficient mechanism for compensation and mandatory investments by companies. For us, sharing experiences, good practices and lessons learned from our implementation processes is a way to continue contributing, not only to the generation of new knowledge, but also to the promotion of the economics of biodiversity conservation.
Analysis of desirable areas for the creation of Habitat Banks.
Julio Álvarez - Mariana Sarmiento. - 2021
The purpose of this document is to identify areas with high potential for the creation of Habitat Banks and to use this environmental compensation and investment mechanism under the principle of payment by results. The methodology for identifying areas is based on the experience that Terrasos has been gathering in the pilot processes of structuring and operating Habitat Banks in Colombia, in addition to the decision elements that are considered important for a prioritization process at the national level.
The objective of this document is to contribute to the consolidation of an offer in the Habitat Banks that will lead to the maturation of a biodiversity credit market, motivating the participation of private actors such as landowners, companies and capital investors in the conservation of biodiversity and orienting its management towards results, promoting sustainable rural development.
Photo-trapping protocol for wildlife monitoring.
Valentina Grisales Betancur y Sergio Medellín. - 2021
The Habitat Banks are a mechanism designed to comply with mandatory and voluntary environmental compensations and investments, which aims at the No Net Loss of Biodiversity, ensuring conservation and restoration actions in a certain area for a period of 30 years. Within the operation of the Habitat Banks there is a component of monitoring and follow-up of the conservation status of biodiversity and restoration actions, with the objective of determining compliance with short, medium and long term objectives.
Among the activities proposed for the monitoring and follow-up of biodiversity within the Meta Habitat Bank (BHM), it has been proposed to carry out a permanent photo-trapping exercise, which aims to know which species are present within the study area of the Bank, what relationship these species have with the different types of land cover present there, and how, in the medium and long term, these species respond to the conservation and restoration actions that are being carried out in the Habitat Bank.
Exchange of Experiences - Habitat Banks.
María del Mar Mozzo, Mariana Sarmiento, Steve Martin y Nick White - 2021
Habitat Banks are a real opportunity for biodiversity conservation, as they motivate early investments and leverage private resources, since they operate under a payment by results scheme, which ensures the achievement of measurable and quantifiable results.
There is great potential as these projects contribute to the implementation of the country's general conservation objectives. In addition, it is a mechanism in which companies not only comply with their mandatory compensations for the biotic component, but also allow the implementation of investments of no less than 1% and voluntary investments, demonstrating the additionality of preservation actions in the unregulated market and sustainably managing strategic ecosystems in the country.
Impact Investment for Biodiversity Conservation: Cases from Latin America and the Caribbean
Isabel Studer - IDB - 2021
More than 30% of the earth's available freshwater and nearly 50% of the world's tropical forests are found in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), which possesses a wide range of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems. This unique source of capital - natural capital, generates important benefits for life. This unique source of capital -- natural capital -- generates important benefits for people's lives called ecosystem services. The term “natural capital” refers to the components of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, including biological diversity, that contribute to the generation of valuable goods and services for humanity now and in the future. A funding gap to protect nature and biodiversity assets can be partially addressed by mobilizing private investment by supporting private actors who are sustainably harnessing natural capital, facilitating private investment in conservation and restoration projects, and encouraging private innovation in sustainability solutions.
The value of biodiversity in economic decision making: Applying IEEM's ESM approach to conservation strategies in Colombia.
Onil Banerjee, Martin Cicowiez, Žiga Malek, Peter H. Verburg, Renato Vargas, Sean Goodwin - IDB - 2020
In this article we evaluate the economic, natural capital and ecosystem service impacts of strategies to conserve Colombia's rich endowment of natural capital. Specifically, we consider government program proposals to establish Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), implement more sustainable silvopastoral systems, and expand habitat banks. We develop and apply the Integrated Environmental Economic Modeling Platform (IEEM) linked to Land Use Land Cover (LULC) and Ecosystem Services Modeling (IEEMESM) to shed light on the multidimensional impacts of these programs from the perspective of sustainable economic development and intergenerational wealth.
Monitoring and follow-up of aggregate environmental compensation schemes.
Mariana Sarmiento, Alexis López y Felipe Osorio - TERRASOS - 2020.
To maximize the positive impacts on biodiversity resulting from offset obligations and investments of no less than 1%, it is necessary to strengthen certain aspects related to their effective implementation. In the case of aggregated offset schemes (such as Habitat Banks and Peace Forests), the follow-up, monitoring and accounting of actions, as well as the use of technological platforms, are fundamental to achieve effective results. Therefore, this publication reviews international references and the case study of the first Habitat Bank in Colombia in order to identify the advantages and restrictions that the legal framework and practice exert on this type of initiatives and, finally, to provide a series of recommendations that would speed up the implementation of aggregated compensation and, therefore, achieve greater environmental, economic and social gains.
Guidelines for environmental compensation in ethnic territories.
Mariana Sarmiento, Lucas Buitrago, Natalia Abello, Antoine Escalas, Alexis López y William Cardona - CONSEJO COMUNITARIO MAYOR DE ALTO SAN JUAN (ASOCASAN), CODECHOCÓ, FUNDEPÚBLICO, INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES AMBIENTALES DEL PACÍFICO JOHN VON NEUMANN, MINAMBIENTE, WCS y WORLD WILDLIFE FUND (WWF) - 2019.
This publication proposes a plan to articulate natural resource management strategies on indigenous and black peoples' lands with the compensation obligations of companies operating in neighboring areas. The idea is that this document will be a contribution to the debate on the subject, and that it will also become consultation material for interested communities, companies with compensation obligations and the different environmental authorities, so that they can apply the model or present it to their beneficiaries. Ultimately, it is essential to guarantee that offsets ensure that people maintain the same level of access to biodiversity and ecosystem services, before and after the implementation of any development project.
Infographic on the progress of Habitat Banks worldwide.
Terrasos - 2019
Terrasos is a pioneer in the structuring of the Habitat Banks scheme as a mechanism for the implementation of environmental compensation in the country. This recognition is due to the exhaustive search for innovative and cost-efficient strategies that improve the environmental conditions of the territories, and that in turn allow the fulfillment of the obligations of the companies for the development of their projects. As part of this task, since 2014, Terrasos has been monitoring the evolution of this scheme in the countries where it has been most welcomed, which is evidenced in this infographic. It mentions the progress in the implementation of the Banks in countries such as the United States, Australia, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, France and Colombia, where emphasis is placed on the areas under the scheme, projected times, guarantees, legal aspects, the price of credits and the actors involved.
Habitat Banks: Mechanism for the implementation of biotic offsets.
Mariana Sarmiento, Eduardo del Valle, Alexis López, Felipe Osorio, Juan Esteban Hincapié y María Isabel Vieira Muñoz - THE NATURE CONSERVANCY (TNC), TERRASOS, MINAMBIENTE Y BID FOMIN - 2018
Taking into account the need to orient the implementation of Habitat Banks for the different stakeholders involved, this guide aims to resolve the main questions about their implementation in relation to the compensation of the biotic component and the requirements of a mandatory investment of no less than 1%. In particular, emphasis is placed on the basic concepts related to this mechanism, the benefits they generate and the requirements and procedures to establish them. Likewise, reference is made to their operation, the way in which follow-up and monitoring must be done, as well as the process to be carried out in order to comply with a biotic compensation or a 1% investment through the Habitat Banks. Finally, it indicates the minimum content that a Compensation Plan associated with this mechanism must have and the roles and responsibilities that must be assumed by the actors involved.
Legal considerations on land tenure vis-à-vis emerging environmental markets in Colombia.
Eduardo del Valle Mora, Mariana Sarmiento, Juan Pablo del Valle Mora, Ricardo Alexis López y Natalia Abello - FUNDEPÚBLICO - 2017.
This practical guide becomes a consultation tool for projects involving land that is the object of environmental transactions. In this way, it is intended to meet the growing demand for environmental markets, as well as to overcome some of the difficulties that currently arise in the implementation of PES-type schemes, environmental compensation and investments for water resource conservation. This work is part of the project “Strengthening legal, financial and natural resource management structures for reciprocal ecosystem services agreements”, financed by the MacArthur Foundation and implemented by Fundepúblico, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Fondo Acción.
Considerations for the consolidation of environmental markets.
Lucas Buitrago, Eduardo del Valle Mora, Padu Franco, Luisa Fernanda Lema, Ricardo Alexis López, Daniela Morales, Tatiana Núñez y Mariana Sarmiento - FUNDEPÚBLICO, WCS y FONDO ACCIÓN - 2017.
This publication takes up each of the problems associated with environmental markets, proposing the following solutions: i) Transparency and timeliness of information; ii) Accuracy in requirements or obligations; iii) Land tenure and use Monitoring, verification and control; and iv) Creation of demand in voluntary schemes. Finally, the analysis concludes by pointing out some cross-cutting elements, the lack of which is significant for the consolidation of markets.
Diagnosis of emerging environmental markets in Colombia.
Lucas Buitrago, Alexis López, Mariana Sarmiento - FUNDEPÚBLICO, WCS y FONDO ACCIÓN - 2016.
Environmental markets aim to generate economic alternatives that benefit communities, companies and governments in order to conserve biodiversity, improve water quality, fix carbon, among other activities. This diagnosis helps to understand the magnitude and potential of these markets, as well as to identify bottlenecks and opportunities related to the flow of private and public resources towards effective conservation. The study was carried out based on information provided by and gathered from environmental authorities, control entities, private companies, unions, research institutes, non-governmental organizations and specialists.
Operational Manual of the Habitat Bank - Meta
Mariana Sarmiento, Eduardo del Valle, Alfredo Navas, Wayne White, Terry Anderson, Santiago Pinzón, Alexis López - TERRASOS SAS - 2016.
Terrasos developed the Operational Manual for the first Habitat Bank in the country. This research aims to disseminate a new form of environmental compensation. In the Habitat Bank, actions of preservation, improvement or restoration of ecosystems are carried out. The Habitat Bank - Meta - is located in the municipality of San Martin de los Llanos in the department of Meta, in the sub-basin of the Metica River. Its extension is approximately 1,500 hectares and includes Natural Forests and Orinoquia Savannas. This project has been built with international and national experts. The international team has more than twenty years of experience in environmental compensation schemes under payment by results modalities.
Infographics: Towards a system of habitat banks in Colombia.
Mariana Sarmiento y Alexis López - FUNDEPÚBLICO, TERRASOS SAS, WCS - 2015.
This infographic summarizes the aspects that must be considered to achieve a good implementation of Habitat Banks in Colombia. This is based on lessons learned and recommendations from experiences in countries such as the United States, Germany, France, Australia, England and Spain. Among these aspects, the need to have a unit of measurement of biodiversity losses and gains or biodiversity credit, which would correspond to the unit that would be negotiated between the habitat bank promoter and the impact generators, stands out. In addition to this, several considerations on the legal processes and procedures that should be implemented to ensure the permanence and sustainability of the Habitat Banks, as well as the financial mechanisms required to provide transparency and efficiency, are pointed out. As part of this work, an additional infographic presenting the evolution of Habitat Banks at the international level was also produced.
Towards habitat banks as a tool for environmental compensation in Colombia.
Mariana Sarmiento y Alexis López - FUNDEPÚBLICO, TERRASOS SAS, WCS - 2015.
Fundepúblico opens the discussion on habitat banks as a tool for environmental compensation in Colombia. In other countries, habitat banks have proven to make environmental compensation processes more efficient to the extent that they make it possible to establish restoration and conservation areas before impacts are generated, speed up compliance with compensation measures by the generators of impacts and, at the same time, facilitate control and surveillance by the environmental authorities.
Guidelines for the design of a compensation plan for biodiversity loss.
Mariana Sarmiento, William Cardona, Ray Victurine, Alexis López, Andrea Carneiro, Padu Franco, Marcela Jiménez - WCS y FUNDEPÚBLICO - 2015.
The guidelines presented in this document are intended to improve the way in which environmental offsets are being developed in the country. This, taking into account the requirements established by the Biodiversity Loss Allocation Manual, as well as a series of international best practices. In this way, it is intended to generate a proposal of guidelines for the design of compensation plans. Thus, the aim is to provide feedback on what is proposed by the Manual given that, according to the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADS), this instrument has a management cycle that allows the inclusion of additional developments that strengthen its implementation.