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A program to protect the Prairie Pothole Region has been validated as avoiding greenhouse gas emissions, allowing offsets related to it to be sold.
The Ducks Unlimited Avoided Grassland Conversion Project protects part of the region, which is also called the "Duck Factory" because its 26,000 acres is considered the most productive breeding habitat on the prairies for ducks and geese.
The project, validated by Scientific Certification Systems to the Climate, Community and Biodiversity standards, is focused on the parts of the region in North Dakota and South Dakota.
By protecting the grasslands, the project ensures thousands of years worth of stored carbon won't be released, keeping, on average, about 8,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere a year, and a total of about 800,000 metric tons of carbon emissions over a 99-year period.
Ducks Unlimited acquired perpetual conservation easements, which will be donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, from landowners in the region, who will receive additional compensation from the sale of the carbon credits.
Ducks - CC license by HVargas and Kelley Mari
Standards
Check out the standards for validation/verification and read into the specifics of this project. It may make more sense after that.
While the system can always be improved, it's hard to say that a 99-year conservation covenant on one of the region's most productive waterfowl habitats is "stupid."
Offsets
This doesn't make sense. By not allowing business to screw up and destroy something that's been there for thousands of years, becomes an offset excuse for business to continue to pollute somewhere else. Who thought of this??? Stupid!