Partners in Conservation: EIP Pioneers New Model
By Alice Kenny
Ecosystem Investment Partners is re-writing the book on land conservation. The
Ecosystem Marketplace finds out what the men behind the new business have to say
about the synergies they see between conservation and investment returns in the United
States.
On drained and ditched land flat as a pool table in Virginia’s Great Dismal
Swamp, a visionary, an investor and a conservationist are prepared to lay down their
cash. Their bet: that a multi-million-dollar investment can foster the next step in the
emerging ecosystem services market by generating multiple private and public revenue
sources and fulfilling a variety of environmental goals. Clearly, this is a new take on land
conservation.
In fact, America’s revered founding father, George Washington, had proclaimed
the enormous swamp worthless in its natural state, hiring excavators to dig a canal back
in 1763 so that it could be farmed and harvested for trees.
But during the past two decades the intrinsic value of swamps – now going by the
more dignified name of “wetlands” – for their propensity for flood control, water quality
and fostering biodiversity has soared among investors and emerging ecosystem markets.
Sure enough, the three men’s stake is paying off. Their newly formed firm,
Ecosystem Investment Partners, just announced an agreement to co-invest with the
private equity timberland investor Lyme Forest Fund on up to $27.5 million in
conservation projects. Their investment strategy is particularly noteworthy because of its
synergy; its success making money for its investors depends on its ability to generate
multiple environmental successes, from improving water quality and biodiversity to
restoring wetlands– and vice versa.
“While wetlands are a core part of our investment strategy, EIP will not be a
mitigation banking company solely,” says Adam Davis, one of the three founding
partners. “One of the things that makes our strategy unique is that we are