The Measure
The Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta Conservancy (Delta Conservancy) develops incentive programs for public and private landowners which encourage land management practices that stop subsidence on deeply subsided lands in the Delta and Suisun Marsh
Measure Details
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy (Delta Conservancy) in a partnership with local agencies, nonprofit organizations, universities, and private landowners developed the American Carbon Registry protocol for voluntary carbon offsets for wetland creation and rice cultivation in the Delta. The protocol allows landowners to stop and reverse subsidence by growing tule as part of a managed wetland or by cultivating rice, and then taking the quantified emission reductions to the voluntary carbon market.
Under the Delta Carbon Program, the Delta Conservancy and its partners work with public and private landowners and project developers to implement pilot projects to verify greenhouse gas emission reduction credits and realize revenue by trading credits on the voluntary carbon market. After the voluntary California Carbon Protocol is demonstrated and the California Air Resources Board adopts the protocol under the Cap-and-Trade compliance market, higher prices for carbon offsets would incentivize greater participation, and more widespread adoption of practices to halt and reverse subsidence in the Delta.
Delta Plan Strategy
Protect Land for Restoration and Safeguard Against Land Loss
Delta Plan Recommendation
ER RC. Fund Targeted Subsidence Reversal Actions.
(a) The Delta Conservancy should develop incentive programs for public and private land owners that encourage land management practices that stop subsidence on deeply subsided lands in the Delta and Suisun Marsh.
(b) In order to ensure the long-term durability of state investments in restoration, State agencies that fund ecosystem restoration in subsided areas should direct investments to areas that have opportunities to both reverse subsidence and restore intertidal marsh habitat.