Concepts for private sector funded conservation using tax-effective instruments
From PhilanthropyWiki
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Concepts for private sector funded conservation using tax-effective instruments is a new report from Land & Water Australia, produced by Prof. Paul Martin from the Australian Centre for Agriculture & Law at the University of New England. The report presents new research on two questions relating to agribusiness, venture capital, ethical and environmentally sustainable investment circles:
- How will Australia fund investments commensurate with the challenge of resource degradation and climate change?
- How will it achieve cooperation with private landowners and private capital to achieving a sustainable future?
The research provides a farmer and private sector-driven regional conservation option that combines philanthropy, voluntarism and market-funded investments. The authors have worked with leading farming, conservation and private investment sector people to design a practical, economically efficient way to achieve large-scale private investment in conservation on private lands. The key to this approach is to combine the use of new environmental markets and private philanthropy with small amounts of government taxation leverage. The financing model has a mix of:
- managed investment schemes (MIS) to fund natural resource outcomes (they are more widely used to manage forestry investments and allow tax write-offs)
- pooled development funds (that allow government to limit the loss of tax by licensing the amount of deductible natural resource investments)
- R&D tax breaks for NRM research done at regional scales, and
- a model for philanthropic investment in natural resource management.