OnEarth.org points us to a story at Mongabay.com, about the purchase of environmental services rights in a rainforest in South America by a private equity firm, Canopy Capital.
"How can it be that Google's services are worth billions, but those from all the world's rainforests amount to nothing?" asked Hylton Murray-Philipson of Canopy Capital. "As atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide rise, emissions will carry an ever mounting cost and conservation will acquire real value. The investment community is beginning to wake up to this."
According to the story at Mongabay.com, Canopy Capital, with an investment by Merrill Lynch, "has purchased the rights to environmental services generated by a 371,000-hectare rainforest reserve in Guyana. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the agreement is precedent-setting in that a financial firm is betting that the services generated by a living rainforest — including rainfall generation, climate regulation, biodiversity maintenance and water storage — will eventually see compensation in international markets."
Thanks to Molly Webster of NRDC's OnEarth.org, "The Price is Right," April 15, 2008.
Posted by dougsimpson at April 16, 2008 08:28 AM