Insights from the Field: Forests for Species and Habitat

The document describes a market-based 'pre-compliance conservation' pilot initiative targeting the gopher tortoise in the southern United States. This voluntary marketplace allows landowners to receive payments for managing forests to support the species, while project developers can buy conservation credits to mitigate habitat disturbance and reduce regulatory risks associated with the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

• Market-based 'pre-compliance conservation' mechanisms allow for cost-effective interventions to protect species before they are officially listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
• The World Resources Institute (WRI) is piloting a scalable, science-based marketplace in the southern forests of the U.S. where landowners are paid to manage southern pine forests for the gopher tortoise, offsetting habitat loss elsewhere and potentially preventing the species from being listed as threatened or endangered.
• A candidate conservation marketplace provides federal and private developers with regulatory certainty from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), helping them avoid litigation and costly project delays by front-loading the ESA review process.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Insights from the Field: Forests for Species and Habitat. https://www.wri.org/research/insights-field-forests-species-and-habitat

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Insights from the Field: Forests for Species and Habitat. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/insights-field-forests-species-and-habitat.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Insights from the Field: Forests for Species and Habitat |url=https://www.wri.org/research/insights-field-forests-species-and-habitat |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendinsights, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Insights from the Field: Forests for Species and Habitat}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/insights-field-forests-species-and-habitat}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }