please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral . please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable independent third party sources . february 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message a major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . april 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message forest trends industry conservation founded 1998 headquarters 1203 19th street nw 4th floor dc 20036 usa website http www.forest trends.org forest trends is a non profit organization founded in 1998 and based in washington dc that connects with economic tools and incentives for maintaining ecosystems . its mission is four fold to expand the value of forests to society to promote sustainable forest management and conservation by creating and capturing market values for ecosystem services to support innovative projects and companies that are developing these markets and to enhance the livelihoods of local communities living in and around those forests . 1 contents 1 history 2 approach 3 initiatives 3.1 business and biodiversity offsets program 3.2 the katoomba group 3.3 communities & markets 3.4 ecosystem marketplace 3.5 forest trade & finance 3.6 marine ecosystem services program 4 organization 5 references 6 external links history edit beginning in 1996 a small group of leaders from forest industry donors and environmental groups began to meet to consider the array of challenges facing forest conservation and began to identify common ground . this group recognized the respective contributions and limits of their own institutions and decided to create a new organization forest trends to expand this work of bridging traditional divides and promoting market based approaches to forest conservation . in 1998 the group agreed on an organizational model for the new organization . forest trends would be a small nimble and responsive non profit organization with three principal roles convening market players to advance market transformations generating and disseminating critical information to market players and facilitating deals between different critical links in the value chains of new forestry . the original group of participants was expanded to include additional representatives from industry finance and community conservation and this enlarged group became the original board of directors . the board was expanded in late 1999 to include representation from other major forest areas besides the united states including russia brazil malaysia and canada . 2 approach edit forest trends states it connects producers suppliers governments communities ngos and investors . it uses its information and networks to address key systems barriers to the development of new business and policy models on issues such as climate friendly vague forestry and agriculture watershed services and water quality no net loss biodiversity coastal and marine ecosystem services supply chain traceability and transparency innovative finance specify and community stewardship specify and inclusion . citation needed initiatives edit business and biodiversity offsets program edit bbop is an international partnership of some 40 leading conservation organizations companies governments and financial institutions developing testing and implementing best practices on biodiversity offsets . forest trends launched bbop in november 2004 and serves as its secretariat with the wildlife conservation society . together the bbop partners are designing and implementing biodiversity offsets in a range of industry sectors countries and ecosystems and sharing the results and practical guidance in the form of a number of publications . these include a set of principles offset design and implementation handbooks and case studies . bbop also supports governments developing policy related to biodiversity offsets conservation banking and land use and landscape level planning . 3 the katoomba group edit the katoomba group is an international network of individuals working to promote and improve capacity related to markets and payment for ecosystem services pes . with its first gathering in 2000 the katoomba group was launched as an international working group focused on advancing markets for the ecosystem services including watershed protection biodiversity habitat and carbon storage . the group serves as a source of ideas for and strategic information about ecosystem service markets . its international meetings have provided a forum for influencing policy makers and catalyzing new initiatives . the group has advised national policy discussions on financial incentives for conservation in numerous countries including china brazil india and colombia . currently when it has held 14 major global conferences published and contributed to numerous publications and supported the development of a range of new pes schemes including the biocarbon fund at the world bank and the mexican pes fund . since 2006 regional katoomba networks have formed and to date when regional networks exist in tropical america eastern and southern africa and west africa . 4 communities & markets edit the communities & markets program seeks to reduce poverty improve livelihoods and conserve natural resources by promoting community participation in market based conservation mechanisms . the program links communities to environmental markets by promoting the awareness and capacity for communities to participate in and benefit from payments and compensation schemes that value their stewardship role of ecosystem services . working with other forest trends programs and partner organizations it provides information capacity building and technical assistance for communities around the world . 5 ecosystem marketplace edit ecosystem marketplace is a global platform for transparent information on ecosystem value and transactions . the website features news data and analyses on markets and payments for ecosystem services such as water quality carbon sequestration and biodiversity . 6 forest trade & finance edit since 2000 forest trends has been engaged with the chinese government and research agencies to encourage sustainable forest management and forest trade policies launching a global forest finance initiative with the goal of raising transparency and accountability and ultimately for improving practices by financial institutions that fund forestry investment . 7 marine ecosystem services program edit the marine ecosystem services program aims to protect marine ecosystem services by harnessing markets and private sector investment in order to complement conventional coastal and marine management and safeguard human well being . the initiative is a new focus for forest trends building on the core work done by the organization in terrestrial ecosystems and conventional markets . it works with other forest trends programs the katoomba group and ecosystem marketplace to adapt their models in developing the conceptual underpinnings for marine pes markets and biodiversity offsets . 8 organization edit the group identifies as a 501 c 3 organization per its last tax return from 2013 posted on its website . as of february 2015 update the organization listed 50 staff members including its president and ceo and listed the board of directors with the following 18 members after matthew arnold from jpmorgan chase & co. departed 9 john begley harbor paper seattle wa mark bierbower hunton and williams llp washington dc david brand new forests pty limited sydney australia richard burrett earth capital partners london uk linda coady enbridge formerly with liu institute for global issues vancouver bc canada sally collins sally collins llc boulder co john earhart global environment fund buenos aires argentina randy hayes rainforest action network san francisco ca prof. hans hoogeveen jd mpa ministry of economic affairs agriculture and innovation the hague the netherlands michael jenkins executive michael jenkins forest trends washington dc olof johansson sveaskog stockholm sweden miguel milano instituo life lasting initiative for earth curitiba brazil daniel nepstad eii earth innovation institute san francisco ca yusuf ole petenya shompole community trust nairobi kenya marta isabel ruiz corzo sierra gorda biosphere reserve mexico sergey tsyplenkov greenpeace russia moscow russia bettina von hagen ecotrust portland or references edit our mission . forest trends association . n.d. retrieved 2012 07 09 . who we are . forest trends association . retrieved 2011 04 07 . business and biodiversity offsets program . forest trends . retrieved 20 february 2015 . katoomba group . forest trends . retrieved 20 february 2015 . communities and markets . forest trends . retrieved 20 february 2015 . ecosystems marketplace . forest trends . retrieved 20 february 2015 . forest trade . forest trends . retrieved 20 february 2015 . marine ecosystem services program . forest trends . retrieved 20 february 2015 . staff . forest trends . n.d. retrieved 20 february 2015 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title forest trends & oldid 648123984 categories environmental organizations based in the united stateshidden categories articles lacking reliable references from february 2015all articles lacking reliable referenceswikipedia articles with possible conflicts of interest from april 2011all wikipedia articles needing clarificationwikipedia articles needing clarification from february 2015articles 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