2-4. Social Impacts

Here is a quote from Consideration of Nature-based Solutions as Offsets in Corporate Climate Change Mitigation Strategies (Seymour and Langer 2021)」[2]

Although the atmospheric carbon budget is indiferent to the sources of emissions reductions and removals (“a ton is a ton is a ton”), the actual impacts on climate across geographic scales and on human well-being are not. Compared to industrial emissions reduction and removal technologies, investments in NBS can generate signifcant cobenefts for the climate, ecosystem services, and biodiversity in addition to benefts for local communities and national economies. The size and characteristics of those benefts vary across types of NBS.

Carbon density is highly correlated with biodiversity in natural ecosystems (Di Marco et al. 2018). Protection of biodiversity is essential to maintain the ecosystem functions that sustain global food systems (e.g., via pollination) as well as human health, as dramatically demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, wetlands and forested watersheds attenuate foods and droughts, mangroves protect coastal communities from storm surges, and forests moderate local air temperature and soften the health impacts of urban heatwaves (Lawrence and Vandecar 2015; Salmond et al. 2016). Forests also provide an important source of direct income for local communities by providing fuelwood, food, and fber (Angelsen et al. 2014). Box 1 describes the challenges of valuing such cobenefts in carbon markets.

Through SINRA, we aim not only to generate carbon credits but also to promote the conservation and restoration of natural resources. In doing so, we will produce numerous co-benefits, including the enhancement of biodiversity and human well-being.