Evaluating Ecosystems Markets for Environmental Sustainability

Day 3: Sept 24, 2013 • 10:45am • Ballard Room Small Conference Room

By Harbans Lal

Ecosystem markets are evolving all around the nation as an option for improving environmental quality including water quality. This session will include a presentation on the topic describing its components and players involved in an operational trading program. The presentation will follow with discussion session with your participation in a heterogeneous fishbowl format to explore different matrices for evaluating the success of trading program.

Dr. Harbans Lal currently works as the environmental engineer on the water quality and quantity team of the West National Technology Support Center (WNTSC) of the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA located in Portland, O. He joined NRCS in 2006 with over 30 years of experience in natural resource management. He hold a Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Florida. Ever since joining the NRCS, he has been engaged in developing tools and techniques for evaluating agricultural and conservation practices for environmental markets. He has been a key player in designing and implementing the NTT (Nutrient Tracking Tool) and the WQIag (Water Quality Index for Runoff Water from Agricultural Fields) – the tools adopted by NRCS nationwide. In addition Harbans worked on agricultural systems in India and Brazil before moving to the United States in 1986. He is very passionate about environmentally-friendly agriculture that can provide food, fiber and fuel for the world population with a minimum impact to the environment. He has authored and co-authored several technical bulletins, operation manuals, and refereed and non-refereed journal articles.

• A list of all presentations at the 2013 EENP Forum