title: Bigger is better: Improved nature conservation and economic returns from landscape-level mitigation.
abstract: Impact mitigation is a primary mechanism on which countries rely to reduce environmental externalities and balance development with conservation. Mitigation policies are transitioning from traditional project-by-project planning to landscape-level planning. Although this larger-scale approach is expected to provide greater conservation benefits at the lowest cost, empirical justification is still scarce. Using commercial sugarcane expansion in the Brazilian Cerrado as a case study, we apply economic and biophysical steady-state models to quantify the benefits of the Brazilian Forest Code (FC) under landscape- and property-level planning. We find that FC compliance imposes small costs to business but can generate significant long-term benefits to nature: supporting 32 (±37) additional species (largely habitat specialists), storing 593,000 to 2,280,000 additional tons of carbon worth $69 million to $265 million ($ pertains to U.S. dollars), and marginally improving surface water quality. Relative to property-level compliance, we find that landscape-level compliance reduces total business costs by $19 million to $35 million per 6-year sugarcane growing cycle while often supporting more species and storing more carbon. Our results demonstrate that landscape-level mitigation provides cost-effective conservation and can be used to promote sustainable development.
authors.affiliation: Global Conservation Lands Program, The Nature Conservancy, Fort Collins, CO 80524, USA.
authors.forename: Christina M
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8902-8728
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.affiliation: Global Conservation Lands Program, The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA 22203, USA.
authors.forename: Daniela A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Miteva
authors.affiliation: Brazil Program, The Nature Conservancy, SIG Qd. 01, Lt. 985-1005, Sala 206, Brasília/DF 70610-410, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leandro
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Baumgarten
authors.affiliation: Natural Capital Project and Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, 325 Learning and Environmental Sciences, 1954 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Peter L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Hawthorne
authors.affiliation: Global Conservation Lands Program, The Nature Conservancy, Fort Collins, CO 80524, USA.
authors.forename: Kei
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8222-3344
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sochi
authors.affiliation: Natural Capital Project and Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, 325 Learning and Environmental Sciences, 1954 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.; Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, 1994 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55112, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Polasky
authors.affiliation: Global Conservation Lands Program, The Nature Conservancy, Fort Collins, CO 80524, USA.
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Oakleaf
authors.affiliation: EHS and Sustainability, The Dow Chemical Company, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Uhlhorn
authors.affiliation: Global Conservation Lands Program, The Nature Conservancy, Fort Collins, CO 80524, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kiesecker
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources / Q000191:economics*; D017753:Ecosystem; D065928:Forests; D018803:Models, Economic; D031786:Saccharum / Q000254:growth & development; D060753:Water Quality
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon
keywords: Impact mitigation; agricultural expansion; biodiversity; ecosystem services; land-use planning; land-use policy; landscape conservation