Voluntary, urban ecological stewardship strategies offer a different set of solutions than regulatory models, and open a new land base that would otherwise be inaccessible for improving ecological function as cities change and grow.
This paper accesses available literature, case studies, municipal and organizational reports, and first-person interviews to describe four emerging strategies for catalyzing voluntary private property stewardship in cities: (a) indirect incentives; (b) market-based certifications; (c) community-based initiatives; and (d) payments for ecosystem services.
Where community stewardship and voluntary compliance have been achieved, there are fewer issues with non-compliance of zoning regulations.
Through fee acquisitions, voluntary conservation easements, and stewardship, land trusts have become powerful agents of land conservation and their reach continues to expand.
However voluntary strategies for encouraging ecological stewardship on private property in cities are not well studied.
Most of the population (70%) was dependent on private lands, emphasizing the importance of voluntary approaches that incentivize good stewardship.
Last January, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPAA) launched the Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program, a voluntary program that gave companies working with nanomaterials the opportunity to offer up information about what nanomaterials they're developing and any related health and safety data.
At the core of many voluntary initiatives is the concept of product stewardship, or encouraging computer manufacturers to incorporate environmental responsibility into the entire life cycle of their products: design, use and end-of-life.
True to form, the Bush administration has invited industry to regulate itself via a voluntary program, the EPA's Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program.
However, given organic farmers' disinterest in paying for national administrative costs, regional programs including voluntary efforts from an industry committed to quality food and stewardship of nature's services is a plausible alternative.
