In a new project, AmCham is working with The Nature Conservancy , one of the environmental NGO leaders United States, to devise ways to promote activities conservation of private Chile.
Since September, a senior official of one of the largest and most influential environmental NGOs of U.S. became a familiar presence in the offices of AmCham , as well as law firms, corporate conference rooms and homes of landowners in central Chile . Henry Tepper, director of the State of New York The Nature Conservancy (TNC ) has been working on AmCham as a partner in the conservation area , ushering in a promising partnership between the two organizations oriented results for a common goal that united them: finding ways to promote private philanthropy and conservation driven by the private sector in Chile .
The origin of cooperation between AmCham TNC and dates back to 2004, when President and CEO of TNC, Steven J. McCormick visited Chile and met with President of AmCham , Michael Grasty. At that meeting, McCormick emphasized that TNC is a different kind of NGOs dedicated to working with private landowners, businesses and all levels of government in volunteer projects and cooperation to preserve land and water necessary to protect the species flora and fauna world's most endangered.
Founded in 1951, TNC works with local communities in all 50 states United States and in over 30 countries. Has expanded the so-called "land trust movement" in U.S. , through which millions of hectares of land, significant in ecological terms have been voluntarily protected by individual and corporate landowners, usually in exchange savings in income taxes, state property in U.S. or direct compensation.
"I was intrigued by the TNC approach," says AmCham president , Michael Grasty. "Here we have an environmental organization that is still far from the headlines, do not take public positions supporting or opposing development projects and instead, working closely and often quietly, with private landowners and businesses to achieve exceptional results conservation. This seemed like the kind of organization that could work effectively with AmCham here Chile. "
and TNC was also impressed with what he found in Chile . "The extraordinary biological diversity of landscapes, combined with the strength of the Chilean private sector, offer great opportunities for conservation . We have made significant progress through creative alliances and there is great potential to achieve tangible and lasting results to major scales and in ways that endure, "says McCormick. New
talks culminated in the arrival of Henry Tepper and his family in Santiago in September. In New York, Tepper oversees the oldest program and one of the largest TNC, with 233,000 hectares of protected land, a network of 185 nature reserves private public a 160-member staff and an annual operating budget of $ 17 million.
Tripartite Strategy Knowing that his stay in Chile would be brief, Tepper soon forged a tripartite strategy to find ways to increase the nature conservation driven by the private sector in Chile , task which was attended by Francisco Solis and Victoria Alonso, staff members of AmCham and TNC in Chile . Tepper based its strategy on three elements:
• Explore incentives for private conservation, including possible changes to tax law Chile, in order to encourage private donations for land conservation, as well as direct financial compensation;
• Develop and test a model legal agreement for the conservation land called ecological bondage, which could have great potential in Chile ;
• Working with a small group of landowners, individuals and businesses- concerned about conservation the protection their lands in order to demonstrate the importance of conservation activities private and voluntary .
"Do not hesitate to make an ambitious strategy to enable the private conservation of land in Chile," said Tepper. "This is a country where things are made and where there is also a great sense of urgency about protection of flora and fauna that is most threatened."
Tepper decided to go behind this strategy after noticing the striking potential similarities between the beginning and the subsequent explosive growth of the private land conservation in U.S. in the last 25 or 30 years, and the current situation in Chile . "Until 30 years ago, any land conservation to be held in U.S. was undertaken by the government and this is still well in most of Latin America," says Tepper.
But then, a small group of private landowners in the U.S. , some of whom were landless major ecological and recreational throughout the country, decided that wanted to take action to save their properties. But they did not want to do without some sort of financial incentive, however small.
Over time, this led to changes in the tax code United States to prosecute private donations of land , or value of real estate development, as charitable contributions which empowered the donor to receive deductions federal and state taxes on income, reductions in property tax rebates and sometimes property taxes. The result was a dramatic increase in private conservation activities by landowners in U.S. .
"Most people do not know about it because it has happened quietly, but the movement of private land conservation and creating land trusts, which are NGOs of all types and sizes work with landowners in their efforts, is the activity of natural conservation fastest growing in the U.S. , by a considerable margin, "said Tepper. In fact, over the past 20 years, the number of land trusts operating in the United States has more than doubled, to more than 1,500 organizations, protecting more than 9 million hectares.
Incentives for Private Conservation and
AmCham TNC began its work in September holding a series of meetings with tax lawyers and specialists in Santiago . The purpose of these meetings was to determine the current status of the tax law in Chile and, in particular, whether there are sufficient incentives to encourage private donations of land for conservation .
"The short answer is that virtually no incentives for private conservation in Chile Tax Code ”, explica Amanda Jefferson de AmCham . Roberto Peralta, experto en corporaciones y entidades sin fines de lucro del bufete de abogados Philippi, Yrarrázaval, Pulido & Brunner de Santiago, ha estado analizando posibles incentivos tributarios para donaciones en Chile .
"Hay numerosas ideas para mejorar las actuales leyes que fomentarían la conservación privada”, sostiene. “Pero necesitamos ser tanto realistas como optimistas y suponer que posiblemente será una iniciativa de largo plazo, que requerirá la colaboración entre los conservacionistas , las ONGs , las empresas, el gobierno and the Chilean Congress.
addition to analyzing the Chilean tax laws, AmCham TNC and focused on other incentive logical delivery of direct financial compensation for companies and private landowners to sell their land sell the real estate development value of a property or complete and implement sustainable development plans at the forest , agricultural or aquaculture . This opened up some exciting and promising possibilities.
"First of all, learned that there is broad recognition in the Chilean private sector need greater and more effective conservation "says Tepper. "We also understood that there may be willingness on the part of some of the leading industries in Chile to make contributions in order to create a conservation fund public-private partnerships for the country."
In fact, AmCham and TNC are exploring potential sources of revenue for this fund. The potential members of the private sector have recommended include a partial redirection of funds from Program Environmental Impact Assessment of Chile, part of the new mining royalty or income by exploiting a resource that constitutionally belongs to the State, issuing bonds and other innovative sources of financing, such as biodiversity offsets or carbon credits .
"We need to practice the art of the possible," says Alejandro Quintana, a partner at Grasty Quintana Majlis & Cia, Santiago law firm. "As we continue this work, we will work with AmCham and TNC to develop specific financial projections and evaluate the political possibility of capturing a source of income for private conservation ."
Conservation Easement
The second part of the strategy provided by AmCham TNC is developing a model easement .
"Without a doubt, the two driving forces behind the phenomenal growth of private conservation United States are the availability of tax incentives and the use of conservation easement ," says Tepper.
In English common law, an easement is a legal agreement, written as a script, whereby the landowner transfers the development rights to their land to an organization nonprofit, conservation of land or a governmental entity, while retaining all other ownership rights. According
Land Trust Alliance, U.S. organization that provides consulting services to 1,500 ground trusts in the country, there are three reasons why the easement has become a popular and successful tool for private land conservation.
First, the landlord does not have to relinquish possession of the property and can continue living in it, sell it or pass it on to their children or heirs, second in U.S. The donation of an easement authorizes the landowner to receive a deduction of income tax and a reduction in property taxes, and thirdly, the easements do not prohibit all development, but each easement is specifically designed for the needs of the property and the landowner individually, and may allow limited development as well as the sustainable land management . TNC is adapting
easements Napoleonic legal system prevailing in Chile and elsewhere in Latin America. One of the products key conservation partnership in AmCham Tepper will be a new conservation easement bounded for use in Chile , for which enlisted the help of Carlos Fernandez, a lawyer for TNC.
Fernandez, who traveled to Santiago in November to meet with Chilean lawyers said he was surprised by the level of interest it had in the Chilean legal community about the use and potential conservation easements . "Maybe it is time to use this technique here," he says.
The Pilot Projects third of the Tepper strategy aimed to work with a small group of private landowners who are interested in taking steps to protect their property and use the easements to do so.
"We talked to many landowners committed to conservation, some as individuals and others, on behalf of companies. We hope to test the use of easements in one or more properties in the near future, "says Tepper.
The location of the land being considered for protection might be a surprise. "The higher priority in terms of conservation of The Nature Conservancy in Chile scrub Central Valley, which stretches from Region II in the north to the Eighth, in the south, "says Victoria Alonso, director of TNC public policies in Chile .
"When people think of conservation in Chile , they think of southern temperate forests and in Patagonia," said "But over 18% of this land has been protected, while less than 1% the bush, located near Santiago, has been preserved, "he notes.
report Tepper at the end of AmCham as an Agenda for the Future, provides a continuation of what he considers a potentially very effective and successful partnership with TNC . In addition to ongoing work to develop the three pillars of its strategy, it provides a symposium sponsored by AmCham on conservation easements to be held early next year.
"We welcome this partnership with the premise that increasing private conservation could be a classic example of a situation in which business and environmental of Chile win yes or yes" says AmCham president , Michael Grasty. And this assumption has been corroborated in many ways during the conservation association with Henry Tepper.
"We have much more to do, but there is tremendous potential to preserve the magnificent natural heritage of Chile, through conservation measures private, voluntary and creative," he says Tepper.
For the Department of Special Projects A mCham
