Innovation in Forest Conservation

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it” (Alan Kay). Innovation and invention are happening in Chile, particularly the Chilean Patagonia when it comes to conservation. The Derecho Real de Conservación is a unique and special legal tool that has created a market for wildland forests in the Chilean Patagonia. For the last four years, @the Real Eco State has been trailblazing a new modality of conservation through private investment. The company has been helping clients find green and sustainable investments, while advancing the conservation of our forests.
The Derecho Real de Conservación (“DRC”) is an innovative and fascinating mishmash of contract and property law tantamount, in the simplest terms, to a supercharged conservation easement that, instead of focusing on restricting use, focuses on conserving the land’s natural assets and services. This is particularly innovative in that it allows value-creation beyond carbon storage and, consequently, allows the market to take stock of other valuable services and metrics, including biodiversity, water resource, and scenic value. Furthermore, the DRC, in its contract law aspects, requires a beneficiary, which is a role often fulfilled by scientific foundations dedicated to conservation. The foundations are charged with monitoring compliance with the terms of the DRC and enjoy certain rights, including access to the land to monitor important metrics and the right to take legal action to defend the land from being threatened or damaged by noncompliance.
The DRC is a powerful bridge between the scientific community and private investment in the ESG market. On the one hand, impact investing demands trustworthy and accurate reporting on key data metrics. On the other, scientific foundations can and are happy to report on important data metrics. The combination has the potential to revolutionize conservation and investment in natural resources. Through this lens, it is not difficult to imagine a rapid expansion in privately-protected areas of the Patagonia and the world’s forests, the creation of a liquid market for important natural assets, new ways of quantifying and monetizing the value of wildlands’ natural services, an increased understanding of how forests age and store carbon over time, and the creation of new financial instruments based on nature’s physical services. There is immense financial and scientific potential in conservation.
The Real Eco State is innovating new solutions in the fight against climate change. In addition to carbon credits and other legal and financial tools and ideas at the disposal of humanity, protecting the world’s forests now is a priority. Let’s innovate, invest, and protect Patagonia together!