EVANSTON The fourth and final webinar in the Powder River Basin Resource Councils series entitled Reclaiming and Growing Wyomings Future, focused on Funding Wyomings Transition. Speakers included Ben Alexander with the Resources Legacy Fund, Cindy Winland with the Just Transition Fund and Chris Markuson with Colorados Blue-Green Alliance, all of whom have been extensively involved with work in rural communities dependent upon energy production and power plants.

Alexander opened by providing some economic context for the presentation, noting that Wyoming is the most energy-focused state in the nation. Long-term trends that have impacted energy-focused economies include components of globalization, automation, industry maturity, competition from developing countries, the development of a modern services economy and information economy and de-localization, all of which have fundamentally shifted the geography of our economy and opportunities for local places and businesses to compete.

Alexander has been conducting research on similarities and commonalities between communities in the Intermountain West that have successfully transitioned and diversified from being solely reliant on energy extraction, and coal in particular. His research has become even more timely with the COVID-19 pandemic that in many respects has hastened and worsened the long-predicted decline of coal.

Alexander said adapting to a changing economy is different for urban and rural communities and said many rural communities in particular are struggling to adapt, in part because we face fierce competition for some of our natural resource sectors. He also emphasized the broader transition to a service-based economy on a national scale. Such economies, said Alexander, have a real mix of high-paying and low-paying jobs, rewarding generally sort of the urban components of the higher knowledge aspects of that services economy and punishing, if you will, some of the lower-skilled aspects of the service delivery economy that in many places are replacing some of our higher-paying natural resource sector jobs.

Strategies to address these fundamental shifts through economic development and resiliency, said Alexander, are very localized and unique to each community. He emphasized that economic development is both an outcome and a process. The outcome side is the creation of jobs and wealth and the improvement in quality of life. The process side is the process that influences growth and restructures the economy.

Resilience, said Alexander, is not necessarily about having the fastest growth or generating the most wealth, but about surviving change. Its not trying to keep a place or an economy the way it is in the face of change or even about trying to control change. Its really about shifting attention and resources to cope with or adapt to change.

Alexander said his research revealed there is no single silver bullet for addressing diversification and resiliency processes because all communities are unique and have different assets, challenges and market opportunities. Instead, he said there is a range of techniques and approaches. He said he also began to realize that the response to change is fundamentally different in different areas.

In the West, we know that economics and culture are closely tied. Our identities and our occupations are closely aligned, and so our response to economic change when one industry is under threat is often very personal and we fight to keep that industry and our identity alive. Thats an entirely legitimate response to change, said Alexander. It may not be the most adaptive and resilient response to change, however. More successful places over time dont focus on trying to keep places the way they are or to control change so much as to figure out how they can benefit from it. Alexander said declines in key industries, plant closures, etc., are what he describes as ruptures that create great upheavals in communities. Dealing with those ruptures requires leadership to either take the rupture and use it as an opportunity to double down on the past or use it to look at other possibilities. He said leadership requires not just telling people what they want to hear but telling them the sometimes-painful truth.

Local leadership, then, is critical in helping communities adapt and move forward with economic development strategies. Part of that process, said Alexander, is focusing on a vision, including a lists of area strengths and weaknesses, as well as creating a specific strategy that includes two key components, which he labeled where to play and how to win.

Alexander said too often leaders in a community will take a kitchen sink approach, trying everything to see if something sticks. Knowing where to play involves looking at and analyzing opportunities and finding in-demand sectors that align with area resources. How to win involves looking at ways to ensure that investments in new training or technology pay off by delivering either the lowest-cost product or a specialized, differentiated in-demand product that isnt already readily available elsewhere.

Successful economic development requires a long-term strategy and commitment to process as, according to Alexander, its not at all unusual for multiple ruptures to occur throughout the life of a community, necessitating repeated adaptation.

Winland, senior fellow with the Just Transition Fund, echoed Alexanders comments on economics and identity, and addressed the fear that often accompanies the decline in a sector. A lot of communities are afraid to say it out loud, as though thats going to cause the plant to close or the mine to close, but its important to recognize this is going to be in our future and we need to think about it.

The Just Transition Fund (JTF) specializes in offering support to communities dealing with a closure and economic transition, working with local officials, business leaders, educational institutions and more. The nonprofit JTF utilizes a hybrid approach to provide both technical assistance and funding to help communities come together, strategize and focus on specific locally-derived and -driven goals and plans and how to meet them.

Winland said the JTF avoids coming in with a cookie-cutter solution to just drop on a community and instead focuses on meeting with local people to understand a communitys assets, resources, challenges and more to help locals develop their own vision and solutions. She said unfortunately oftentimes community leaders try to simply find someone else a savior to just take over the closing plant, utility, etc., to fill the void, which is not actually economic diversification or doing anything to address the inevitable loss of that industry/employer.

The JTF offers free tools online as part of the organizations technical assistance services, including tools to help start a transition planning process, to help connect to other communities that have faced similar challenges, to help identify public and private funding sources to facilitate employee training and education needed for any successful transition, to provide grant-writing assistance, to help with conducting outreach within communities and facilitating meetings and to share information and resources.

Winland said even if theres disagreement within a community about politics and policies or about the causes for an industrys decline, its important to develop some consensus on how to proceed and move toward the future, and the JTF can help facilitate meetings to help local leaders find that consensus. If we arent all in the room and working toward the same thing, its much less likely to succeed. That sounds like a Miss America statement, but its really important.

The JTF has provided both technical assistance and funding in numerous states around the country, including Wyoming, although the organization doesnt necessarily have to provide both assistance and funding in any given community. She said the first step in the process is simply to reach out to the JTF to begin an introductory conversation to begin to understand the community, the stage of transition (whether a plant has already closed or whether a closure is imminent, for example) and the goals for the future. Next steps can include outlining resource needs, determining timelines and milestones, helping to develop and implement training and educational programs and more.

Finally, Markuson, director of Colorado and state economic transition policy with the Blue-Green Alliance, spoke about some of the work he has been involved with in Colorado to transition economies from being solely coal reliant. Markuson said a challenge in Colorado and throughout the West has been political unwillingness to recognize how increased demand for clean energy is happening regardless of politics. He said people who dont believe in climate change, for example, argue a transition is unnecessary; however, that ignores market realities of a continued decline in the predominance of coal in energy production. Conversely, some argue that climate change is so important that the loss of jobs and even entire communities is a justified cost to save the planet. Neither viewpoint is helpful in helping communities transition and survive.

Markuson too said communities often make the mistake of just trying to replace a large employer when a plant closes; however, the community then finds itself in the exact same position when another closure occurs and the economy hasnt actually been diversified. He emphasized some of the same factors as Alexander and Winland, noting its easy to attract low-wage, low-skilled jobs, but those arent necessarily sustaining to communities or families.

According to Markuson, its important to seek assistance and look to other communities that have successfully transitioned in pursuing an economic development plan, in part because it can become a classic chicken and the egg scenario. Attracting long-term, community-sustaining employers requires a highly skilled workforce, but its challenging to invest in workforce training for an employer that is not yet in the community.

All three presenters repeatedly emphasized the multiple facets of economic development, especially in coal communities. Focusing only on short-term mitigation of economic impacts may help families and communities for a brief period, but it wont create sustainable jobs. Focusing only on long-term competitive economic opportunities does nothing to immediately help families in need, which often results in families moving away before those opportunities can be realized. Successful plans require a balance of both short-term mitigation and long-term opportunities.

They also all stressed the importance of education, whether that is through community colleges, vocational and technical programs, stacked certificate training in which an individual is able to continually work through programs to build credentials and career ladders, apprenticeships or some other training.

Its crucial to work with local school districts and other educational entities to create needed programs to develop the skilled workforce that can lure stable employers to an area. Especially in the current economic downturn, with community colleges and vocational programs facing huge budget cuts nationally, the three said finding a way to invest in training could offer Wyoming communities a huge competitive advantage.

America is what it is because of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, said Markuson. Weve kind of lost that and need to bring it back. Fostering that requires intentional effort Be bold. The time is now.

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Final webinar on coal transition offers advice and resources for communities - Uinta County Herald

By Kevin Orland and Kait Bolongaro on 8/6/2020

CALGARY (Bloomberg) --If any place in North America should have been prepared for the crash in oil prices, its petroleum-rich Alberta, the Saudi Arabia of Canada.

Back in 1976, Albertas government established a special fund to save some of its oil and gas revenue for leaner times when prices dropped or resources ran dry. For decades, royalties poured into Albertas coffers, with the gusher accelerating in the boom of the early 2000s as the province developed its vast oil-sands reserves, the worlds third-largest oil resource.

But successive governments failed to stick to the savings plan. Today, as weak oil prices upend economies around the world, Alberta is confronting its own painful regrets. Had it set aside more during oils boom, Alberta could have had a C$575 billion ($433 billion) wealth fund to cushion the blows of Covid-19, according to one economists estimates.

Instead, the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund is down to just C$16.3 billion after losing C$1.9 billion because of the pandemic and a wrong-way bet against market volatility. Thats not enough to provide much help in a province suffering from Canadas second-highest unemployment rate at 15.5%, a falling credit rating and a dark period ahead for its most important industry.

Many people in Alberta might not even realize that the Heritage Fund still exists, said Trevor Tombe, an economics professor at the University of Calgary. The fact that there is such a large missed opportunity, that had we been saving royalties we could have had a fund in the hundreds of billions, is not widely appreciated.

Norway Envy

Tombes estimate that the Heritage Fund could have been worth C$575 billion uses the funds actual investment returns but assumes that the province had followed practices similar to those that helped Norway amass its $1.12 trillion Government Pension Fund Global. Those guidelines include contributing all of its resource revenue to the fund and withdrawing only 4% a year.

Norway plans to exceed that cap this year, withdrawing about 4.2% of the fund, or roughly $37 billion, to shore up its budget.

Despite striking oil about half a century earlier than Norway, Alberta has no similar piggy bank to crack. With the oil crash devastating resource and income tax revenue and spending soaring to keep the economy afloat, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has estimated the provinces deficit could hit about C$20 billion in the current fiscal year. Thats on par with the latest deficit estimate from Ontario, a province with three times as many people.

Prior to the crisis, Alberta was producing about 3.8 million barrels a day, more than every OPEC member other than Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Analysts have estimated that Albertas producers idled 1 million to 1.5 million barrels of production at the depths of the crisis, and its unclear how much has been brought back on since the North American economy began to reopen.

If we dont get people back to work, if we dont restore investor confidence and get our economy growing again, the fiscal challenge will become insurmountable, Kenney said in late June.

Rainy Day

The Heritage Fund, which initially received 30% of Albertas non-renewable resource revenue, was meant to transfer the provinces oil wealth to future generations, not serve as a rainy day fund or as a vehicle for diversifying the economy, said Colleen Collins, who worked in Premier Peter Lougheeds office as he set up the fund in the late 1970s. Collins now serves as a vice president at the Canada West Foundation, a think tank.

In 1987, the provincial government stopped adding resource revenue to the Heritage Fund as low oil prices caused mounting deficits. The fund has limped along since, contributing investment income to the provinces general revenue pool while receiving occasional, ad hoc infusions during better times.

There was this sense of Well, its a rainy day fund and man is it rainy, Collins said. Nobody wants to see services cut. Nobody wants to see public servants salaries cut. How do you say no to people when you have all that money in the bank?

Alberta politicians have argued that a giant Heritage Fund might have become a fat target for the federal government, continuing a long series of intergovernmental clashes over control of the provinces oil resources and the wealth they generate. As a unitary state, Norway hasnt faced any such tensions, she said.

The University of Calgarys Tombe concurs, saying that the federal government likely would have reduced its transfers to Alberta or raised other taxes affecting the province, making the Heritage Fund smaller than his calculations project it could have been.

Top Credit Rating

Still, Albertas politicians may have been lulled into false sense of financial security by a long stretch of good times and bullish projections that the U.S. and China would be ready buyers for the provinces crude for decades to come.

The province, which has been governed by various conservative parties for about 81 of the past 85 years, has the lowest corporate tax rate in Canada, relatively low personal income-tax rates and is one of the few North American jurisdictions without a provincial or state sales tax. Even with low taxes, the rise of the oil sands in the 1990s allowed Alberta to post 14 consecutive years of budget surpluses before the streak was ended by the 2008 financial crisis.

The province held onto its AAA credit rating even longer than the U.S. did. S&P Global Ratings didnt downgrade it until 2015. S&P has cut it three more notches since, to A+. Some have called for Kenneys pro-oil government to work on an economic plan that isnt so dependent on fossil fuels.

The odds that the province will seek increased contributions from the industry are low, and the exploding budget deficit makes the chances slim that it will divert revenue to build up the Heritage Fund.

Tombe recommends starting by contributing a small fraction of the provinces resource revenue to the fund and increasing that percentage over time. The lost revenue could be made up by raising tax rates elsewhere or implementing a sales tax.

Either way, he hopes that the lessons of the current pandemic crisis arent lost on Alberta.

The scale of the economic disruptions and the fiscal disruptions are so big that I think it is genuinely leading people to think we need to do something differently, Tombe said. And if an event like this does not cause us to change how were doing things, I dont know what will.

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Alberta's oil-based wealth fund misses a $433 billion opportunity - WorldOil

When people find themselves without food, water or shelter, they turn to the nonprofit sector to help meet their basic needs.

After-school providers keep children academically and socially engaged. Mental health agencies help people deal with issues that feel too hard to handle, and cultural and arts programs provide a break for those seeking respite from daily routines or struggles in life.

Anything that might be a resource for people during the pandemic (and before it) likely touches a nonprofit, said Kelley Kuhn, vice president of the Michigan Nonprofit Association. But because of COVID-19, there are no guarantees those organizations will always be around.

The sector is in unprecedented territory, facing significant change and contraction as it grapples with revenue losses, ballooning demand for services, operational shifts needed to keep people safe and the possibility of recession, according to industry leaders.

COVID-19 has fundamentally changed how nonprofits operate, from logistics like incorporating safety measures into in-person service and program delivery to shifting programs and fundraisers online and nonstop contingency planning to adapt to changing revenue streams and human resource capacities, Kuhn said.

All of those shifts have taken a toll not only on nonprofit finances but also on nonprofit leaders and employees, many of whom have worked nonstop during the pandemic.

"If an economic downturn happens to an already fragile sector, what will be the stress and burden when nonprofits will be continually asked to fill gaps in services to community?" Kuhn said.

"The safety net is going to need attention and support."

What we've learned: Nonprofits have collectively lost millions of dollars in earned revenue with building closures and contributed dollars with canceled fundraising events. Yet some, like food banks and rescues and shelters, ramped up their efforts with each new wave of demand, costs be damned.

To conserve cash, employees were furloughed. To help recoup lost revenue, some shifted to virtual fundraisers and innovative events like drive-in theater gatherings. Some secured federal Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Mental health agencies began telehealth visits with clients to handle increased demand for counseling, and hospitals restarted elective medical procedures. Educational and cultural groups launched new programs online. But it's become clear that among nonprofits there are disparities in the ability to access and leverage technology, Kuhn said.

Racial disparities have taken on a new importance amid the pandemic, forcing nonprofits to view their work through a racial equity lens.

How nonprofits are doing financially differs from one to the next, depending on their mix of public vs. private funding, their reliance on earned vs. contributed revenue and how much they can rely on their donors to support them right now, said Mariam Noland, president of the Community Foundation.

Unanswered questions: Leaders agree that demand for human services will continue to rise, but no one knows how much. It will depend on how quickly the economy turns around, Noland said. And several factors play into that, including the prospect of a recession and whether or not school is in session and parents can return to full-time employment.

"What happens with kids is a huge determinant of what happens with who can go back to jobs, where ... people put their priorities," she said, noting there is also a related impact on arts and cultural organizations, since people are unlikely to go to a theater performance if money and time are tight.

What's next: Leaders are watching what happens with the economy and Michigan's phased reopenings, since both factors have a ripple impact on earned and contributed revenue.

They are also monitoring the rise in the demand for human services, whether government will step up to support the increased demand, and the mental well-being, burnout and work-life balance for nonprofit employees. Whether there will be more federal relief that nonprofits can access without the same issues they encountered in securing the initial PPP loans is another question, Kuhn said.

Based on their financial models and limited cash on hand, a "shocking number" of nonprofits will not survive the pandemic, with closures most likely spread out over the next two to three years, Jeff Williams, director of the community data and research lab at Grand Valley State University's Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy, said in June.

Leaders are seeing some indicators that nonprofits are beginning to look at consolidations, and partnerships are taking shape as those organizations navigate the pandemic and post-pandemic environment, Kuhn said.

"If you are looking to continue to do the work in a resource-stressed environment, then you're creatively looking towards consolidations and partnerships" to best meet community needs, Kuhn said.

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What's Next: Fragile nonprofit safety net facing tests that threaten survival - Crain's Detroit Business

BMOs recently published Blue Book predicts that the ICI construction sector will have mixed fortunes going forward nationally, with strength foreseen in tech, manufacturing, warehousing and public infrastructure sector builds.

The predictions are set against a relatively positive overall economic backdrop, with the banks economists and business consultants forecasting that next year Canadas economy could recover all of the losses it will suffer this year.

Meanwhile, the residential construction sector should remain solid in the next 18 months, with housing starts expected to rebound from 195,000 in 2020 to 215,000 units in 2021 more even than in 2019.

The Blue Book is produced by the BMO Economics and BMO Business Banking divisions and its predictions are based on the views of BMOs economists combined with input from local businesspeople.

Its forecast of a six per cent drop in GDP this year nationally and a matching six per cent hike next year is rosier than those of the federal government and the Bank of Canada.

The Liberals July fiscal snapshot anticipated a 6.8 per cent drop in GDP this year and a 5.5 per cent rebound year, while the Bank of Canadas July Monetary Policy Report predicted a 7.8 per cent contraction in GDP this year and a moderate 5.1 per cent recovery in 2021.

We have a tendency to be less pessimistic than others, said Doug Porter, BMO Financial Group chief economist.

There are still many questions as to what extent we can completely reopen next year but I would say, up to this point, the economy has been following a less negative trajectory than many predicted back in April or May.

That is not to say things are great. We have a long way to go yet. But the most negative predictions have not been borne out. People want to get back to work, they want to get back to as close to normal as possible. We have seen it, people want to get out and spend again.

In the ICI sector, the Blue Book, released July 31, said construction in the oil sector will likely remain weak given the oil price tumult, as the sector has shifted to maintenance from new project development. But Porter said there are positive signs to be found.

I think even there we are past the worst and there are some tentative grounds for optimism in the resource sector, he remarked.

Office and retail construction will be weak, though partially offset by stronger warehouse building, said the Blue Book. But other sources of potential builds, such as agriculture, manufacturing and the technology sector, remain strong.

The GTAs technology sector is still not showing any signs of slowing down, the report states. The Toronto to Kitchener-Waterloo corridor has many innovative companies that never skipped a beat.

Public-sector infrastructure investment should remain solid, said the Blue Book, particularly if federal and provincial budgets focus on stimulus post-COVID.

It could potentially be quite important, Porter said of potential infrastructure stimulus. This cycle is fairly different in terms of how the government will support this recovery. It will probably look quite different from past cycles. What is quite unusual is how the service sector has been hit hard. Usually it is manufacturing, construction and resources that bear the brunt of the downturnbut it is the exact opposite this time.

So the usual prescription is not necessarily going to work to turn the economy around, but I do think governments are going to try, with their normal tools, if they believe it will help support the recovery. I think infrastructure spending will play an important part in nursing the economy back to health in the next couple of years.

Ontarios economy is expected to match that of the nation, with a decline of six per cent expected in 2020 and a spike of the same amount next year.

Torontos economy could well match that pattern, Porter said.

Toronto has been one of the last areas to completely reopen. This year the Toronto area will see a deeper drop than the overall Canadian economy, but on the flip side we would look for a much stronger rebound in Toronto than in the rest of the country, both because it is coming back from a lower level and because we think its underlying growth rate is stronger as well. So we would expect a pretty robust revival in the Toronto economy in 2021.

Follow the author on Twitter @DonWall_DCN.

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BMO forecasts full recovery of Canadian economy next year - Daily Commercial News

No artist of international reputation or even national notoriety for that matter born in Philadelphia has been able to live here. That was renowned illustrator Joseph Pennell writing in the 1930s.

Things have changed for artists in Philadelphia but the lack of local affirmation and support remains a frequent refrain. Artists note particular challenges with finding commercial outlets in the city and their invisibility to the citys most prestigious institutions.

The fragile support extends to City Hall where officials champion the arts but set aside relatively little money to support its production. In the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the city invested approximately $9 million .2% of the citys $5 billion budget. That small investment delivers dividends across Philadelphias neighborhoods and burnishes the citys reputation on the national and international stage. Yet the payoff didnt stop Mayor Jim Kenney from proposing a post-pandemic budget for this fiscal year that eliminated the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund entirely while putting only a .5% dent in the $650 million shortfall.

While the budget that City Council ultimately passed reinstated some of those cuts, Philadelphia is moving into the new year with less money for art than in the past. Kenneys initial budget and even the compromise said something loud and clear about the value city government assigns to art.

The struggle for recognition and even basic survival is heightened for artists of color and artists from other marginalized communities. Grassroots organizations that contribute at the neighborhood level face a catch-22. Many provide critical services in communities that are not effectively engaged by larger institutions. Yet their status is precarious because they lack the social capital or staffing levels to pursue traditional sources of nonprofit funding. Especially now, during an unprecedented pandemic a time of skyrocketing unemployment, uncertain prospects for public education and heightened healthcare concerns.

Yet in the face of these challenges and the many persistent variations of the Philly shrug, the citys artists continue to persevere, thrive, and produce work that is shaping our collective future.

Emblematic of this spirit is the Reentry Think Tank. The United States has incarcerated more than 2 million people, nearly 25% of the worlds prison population. In this landscape, Philadelphia boasts the highest incarceration rate of any large U.S. jurisdiction, according to a 2018 report. Reentry Think Tank partners with artists to restore the humanity of formerly incarcerated men and women to help them succeed in their communities. Through wheatpaste posters, reclaimed spaces, and amplified voices, artists act as engines for education, beautification and political movements and contribute mightily to the most positive aspects of our city.

The turmoil of 2020 is forcing all of us into unwelcome choices and calculated risks. The ongoing uncertainty is dismaying and exhausting. It is a struggle to find precedent and guidance in this moment. One historical lesson we should remember is how the arts have provided a haven in Philadelphias times of crisis. The citys affirmation of and investment in culture especially at the grassroots level has always benefited the city well beyond the direct recipients. Structures that deliver resources to artists have created outcomes that are efficient, effective, and even transformative.

During the original Great Depression of the 1930s, the federal government launched the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Its programs included the Federal Art Project (FAP), a nationwide initiative that ran from 1935 to 1943. The program provided subsidies for artists creation of murals, easel paintings, sculpture, graphic art, posters, photography, theatre scenic design, and arts and crafts.

Philadelphias rich tradition in printmaking includes hosting the United States first lithograph. The FAP site in Philadelphia came out of this history and was one of five nationwide sites that was designated a Fine Print Workshop. Pioneering Black artist Dox Thrash and colleagues that included Samuel Brown, Claude Clark, Hugh Mesibov, and Raymond Steth oversaw a laboratory for technical innovation, inventing the carborundum printing process. The Workshop also modeled racial inclusion when most local institutions were segregated. Today, the legacy of Dox Thrash continues to inspire young people to invest in their neighborhood with a vision for community betterment.

Another period of significant investment happened in the 1960s and 1970s. The federal Model Cities program, and slightly later, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), were efforts to counter failed, top-down urban renewal projects and increase citizen participation. In 1966, during President Lyndon Johnsons administration, the Model Cities Program launched with an emphasis on local control: The idea that there could be an effective working partnership between elected officials and representatives of local communities took hold on both sides. For Philadelphia, the program brought resources to the tune of $25 million annually for 40 programs, ranging from housing subsidies, job training, healthcare, transit and the arts.

North Philadelphias Ile Ife Black Humanitarian Center is among the initiatives that benefited from Washingtons investment. The scale of Ile Ifes activities increased when its founder Arthur Hall became cultural arts director of Model Cities in 1970, one year after the center opened. With his connections to the federal program, Hall could program the center more ambitiously, advocate more effectively, and engage the public through a variety of artistic expressions. Charles Searles, Barbara Bullock, and Twins Seven Seven were among the notable artists who led programs at Ile Ife. Ile Ife closed in 1989 but its spirit has lived on through the work of the Village of Arts and Humanities, which took over the space when the center closed.

The Village practices artist-facilitated community building, and has created a network of murals, parks and gardens in North Philadelphia. During the current crisis, it has used its platform to support artists in the 19133 zip code and to address food insecurity in partnership with the Share Food Program of Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, CETA, active from 1973-82, funded job training initiatives that included direct benefits to artists. CETA was estimated to have invested over $175 million on art projects and employed 10,000 artists.

Philadelphia beneficiaries included Brandywine Workshop, a resource for artists and the larger community that lives on today. The CETA funds allowed the organization to employ 38 local artists annually between 1977 and 1980.

If the present confusion and uncertainty has revealed one thing, it is that the old status quo is unacceptable. What would a more just, equitable city look like? Our past investments in artists and creativity offer lessons.

Blake Bradford is a Philadelphia-based writer, educator and cultural advocate. His appointments include serving as the Director of the Lincoln University-Barnes Foundation Museum Studies Program and as the inaugural Bernard C. Watson Director of Education at the Barnes Foundation.

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Opinion: Investing in Philly artists during the pandemic could help - WHYY

If we protect 30% of the earths land and sea, the direct benefits will be at least USD 64 billion and will generate additional benefits of at least USD 170 billion per year by 2050, according to a study led by Anthony Waldron of the University of Cambridge. The additional benefits are ecosystem services such as flood and drought control or water provision that are not yet monetised.

This economic assessment follows an urgent call from scientists to protect at least 30% of the Earth by 2030 to halt the collapse of biodiversity. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity has included this goal in its draft 10-year strategy, which is expected to be finalised and approved by the conventions 196 parties next year in Kunming, China. Currently about 15% of the worlds land and 7% of oceans are protected.

The nature conservation sector is a net contributor to the global economy, not a drain, the Waldron report shows. The economic benefits of the conservation sector, primarily driven by growth in nature-based tourism, outweighs the economic impacts of expanded protection on agriculture, timber and fisheries. In fact, after recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, the nature sector is projected to grow 4-6% per year compared with less than 1% for agriculture, timber and fisheries.

The non-monetary economic benefits of 30% protection, which are typically considered public goods and are currently outside the market economy, include essential ecosystem services such as climate change mitigation, food protection, clean water provision and soil conservation. Studies have estimated the total global value of natures ecosystem services to be up to USD 125 trillion per year.

In contrast, protecting 30% of the worlds land and oceans would require just 0.16% of global GDP.

The current global protected area network only receives about one-third of the USD 68 billion it needs to be managed effectively and the shortfall is even greater in developing countries, the report shows.

The world is not investing enough in existing protected areas, the Waldron report quotes from the Dasgupta Review an independent global review on the economics of biodiversity led by the economist Partha Dasgupta, commissioned by the British government.

Economic benefits outweigh the costs of protection under all 30% scenarios; locating protected areas closer to people rather than in remote places produces the greatest financial and economic benefits.

Credit: Protecting 30% of the planet for nature: costs, benefits and economic implications report

Address inequities

A major problem with protecting this much of the Earths land and water is that everyone will benefit, but 70-90% of the cost will be in low and middle-income countries, since they have the worlds most threatened biodiversity. The Waldron report recommends financial assistance to such countries.

The same is likely within countries, with the poorest having to shoulder the costs of conservation. The Waldron report urges local analysis, compensation, community support, livelihood alternatives, education and governance to overcome this problem. One example is fisheries: protecting 30% of the seas, rivers and lakes would mean loss of income, especially to artisanal fishers, and that needs to be addressed first if conservation is to work.

Waldron and his co-authors are clear: all successful 30% protection scenarios would involve conservation led by indigenous peoples and local communities.

Road ahead

The academics who co-authored the report say governments should place as much or more priority on the growing nature conservation sector as they do with the stagnant or shrinking sectors of agriculture, timber, fisheries, mining, and oil and gas that often compete for the same land and ocean resources.

The nature conservation sector should be supported because of its ability to drive economic growth and the non-monetary benefits it provides to people. These include the health of populations by reducing the risk of pandemics, jobs and poverty alleviation, education, biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, flood prevention, clean water, soil conservation, cultural and historic resource protection and spiritual values.

Governments should conduct natural capital accounting to integrate the non-monetary benefits of nature conservation into their balance sheets. This value should be recognised in all aspects of policy development across government agencies, including policies relating to agriculture, fisheries, timber, extractive industries, infrastructure and urban development. The World Bank had started an exercise for green accounting in two countries India and Costa Rica as a pilot project. But this has not been scaled out.

The Tenga river valley in Arunachal Pradesh, one of the worlds last unexplored biodiversity hotspots [Image by: Chandan Kumar Duarah]

Governments should increase investments in projects to formally recognise the land and forest tenure rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, whose engagement in biodiversity conservation will be essential to achieving any 30% protection scenario, the report says. India passed a law in 2006 to this purpose, but the law has been repeatedly attacked by the forest bureaucracy and other branches of the government.

Businesses should implement transparent supply chain disclosure to prove that no parts of their supply chain are conducting extractive activities or taking actions that otherwise degrade the natural asset values of protected areas and intact ecosystems. This disclosure should be required by governments and investors, says the report.

See: Long road ahead for ethical palm oil in booming Indian market

The benefits

Nibedita Mukherjee of the University of Cambridge a co-author of the Waldron report told The Third Pole, We have looked at just the value of ecotourism compared with infrastructure development to reach that minimum figure of USD 64 billion in benefits. When we looked at ecosystem services other than tourism, the benefits were far higher.

India has no systematic way to invest in nature, no long-term investment in natural capital. That is an urgent requirement, Mukherjee added, especially given the negative trend in the Indian economy over the past five years.

There is no dearth of restoration potential in India, Mukherjee pointed out. It should become an integral part of the treasury and a new green deal for India. In the situation created by Covid-19, this will provide the maximum number of jobs.

See: Opinion: India must go green or perish

Big role for business

The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently calculated that nature-positive solutions can create USD 10.1 trillion in business opportunities and 395 million jobs by 2030. The Future of Nature and Business Report by the WEF has blueprints for businesses to tap into this opportunity.

The report is built on real-world examples. Smart farming using sensors and satellite imagery improved crop yields by 60% on average in Indonesia. In China, Suzhou Industrial Parks GDP has increased 260-fold, partially through green development. In Vietnam, the incomes of people living in coastal communities more than doubled following the restoration of mangroves.

We can address the looming biodiversity crisis and reset the economy in a way that creates and protects millions of jobs, saidAkanksha Khatri,head of the Nature Action Agenda at the WEF. Public calls are getting louder for businesses and government to do better. We can protect our food supplies, make better use of our infrastructure and tap into new energy sources by transitioning to nature-positive solutions.

The report, written in collaboration with AlphaBeta, identifies a range of actions in areas where change can be scaled up, including diversifying diets away from meat, smart farming technologies, refurbishing and recycling clothing and opportunities in the maritime industry.

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Protecting 30% of the earth will bolster economy - thethirdpole.net