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Toward A Virginia Ocean Plan: Lessons And Recommendations From Other States, Nathaniel Dominy, Luke Foley
Toward A Virginia Ocean Plan: Lessons And Recommendations From Other States, Nathaniel Dominy, Luke Foley
Virginia Coastal Policy Center
Virginia’s ocean waters feature vast natural resources, and are used by its residents, visitors, and the military for recreation, commerce, and national security. New and intensified uses, such as offshore energy production, aquaculture, and increased shipping could impact Virginia’s ocean resources. To ensure the continued protection of these resources, while allowing them to be used sustainably, the Commonwealth is developing its first ocean management plan. Because several state agencies currently manage Virginia’s territorial sea waters, a coordinated and proactive approach is needed to effectively develop this plan. Developing a Virginia Ocean Plan can help protect the Commonwealth’s ocean resources and …
Carbon Market Opportunities In Virginia: Eelgrass, Marshes, Soils, And Forests, Imani Y. Price
Carbon Market Opportunities In Virginia: Eelgrass, Marshes, Soils, And Forests, Imani Y. Price
Virginia Coastal Policy Center
Carbon sequestration is the storage and capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Preserving carbon sequestering sources helps mitigate climate change. Eelgrass, marshes, soils, and forests all sequester carbon. Unfortunately, they are vulnerable to climate change and human development. This paper examines how these sources of carbon sequestration can be incorporated into Virginia’s climate change policies, including the creation of a carbon market. Among other aims, a carbon market would incentivize the preservation and restoration of these species, providing important environmental and economic benefits. The first section of this paper identifies several sources of carbon sequestration, as well as their …
Eelgrass In Virginia: Assessing Opportunities And Obstacles For Blue Carbon Credits, Michael Jordan, Imani Price
Eelgrass In Virginia: Assessing Opportunities And Obstacles For Blue Carbon Credits, Michael Jordan, Imani Price
Virginia Coastal Policy Center
This Paper seeks to explore a few of the questions that eelgrass restoration project proponents will need to consider prior to participating in a voluntary carbon credit market, like the VCS [Verified Carbon Standard]. Part I of this Paper explores whether the Commonwealth of Virginia could participate as a project proponent in a voluntary carbon credit market, and then analyzes both constitutional limitations and statutory limitations on the current state agency charged with overseeing the state-owned bottomlands—the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC). It also explores a few possible solutions to constitutional and statutory issues. Assuming that the eelgrass restoration activities …
Increasing Living Shoreline Implementation In Virginia: Legal And Policy Recommendations, Christopher Antoine
Increasing Living Shoreline Implementation In Virginia: Legal And Policy Recommendations, Christopher Antoine
Virginia Coastal Policy Center
When living shorelines are correctly implemented, they can provide a number of benefits to landowners, localities, and the state. Based on that knowledge, in 2011, the Virginia General Assembly codified a preference for the use of living shorelines in tidal shoreline stabilization projects to facilitate a greater realization of those benefits. Despite the statutory preference, much of Virginia’s tidal shoreline may not be realizing the benefits associated with living shorelines. A recent report from the Center for Coastal Resources Management (CCRM) at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science indicated that, in a sample of coastal Virginia localities from 2014-2016, as …