Insights from the Field: Forests for Species and Habitat

This policy brief describes a pilot conservation incentive program led by the World Resources Institute (WRI) focused on the gopher tortoise in the southern forests of the United States. The program utilizes a market-based, pre-compliance approach to create a voluntary marketplace for conservation credits, aiming to protect habitat and prevent species from being listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) while providing regulatory certainty for developers.

• Market-based 'pre-compliance conservation' mechanisms allow for cost-effective interventions to protect candidate 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 United States where landowners with southern pine forests can receive payments to manage habitat for the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus). These credits are intended to offset habitat disturbance in other locations and potentially prevent the species from being listed as threatened or endangered.
• A candidate conservation marketplace provides federal and private project developers with a way to manage environmental risk and avoid costly litigation or project delays by securing regulatory certainty from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) through investments in private land conservation.

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} }