Sustainable land initiative

Introduction

Sustainable land management and carbon farming are proven and cost-efficient means of reducing carbon in the atmosphere while benefiting landowners

Case metrics

Key statistics

5th

largest source of California’s GHG emissions is agriculture

70%

of CO2 emissions are methane emissions from livestock

32

million tons of CO2 emissions

The challenge

Enhancing carbon farming with streamlined funding and execution processes in California

The California Air Resources Board estimates that agriculture is the fifth-largest source of California’s GHG emissions. About 70 percent of the 32 million tons of CO₂ are methane emissions from livestock.

Sustainable land management and carbon farming are proven and cost-efficient means of reducing carbon in the atmosphere while benefiting landowners through enhancements such as improved soil quality, greater yields, and superior water quality/retention.

California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) have intimate knowledge of local environmental needs and solutions that will improve environmental value in the local area, however they have historically lacked consistent processes by which to identify, fund, execute and measure the impacts of those initiatives. The process from engaging with a landowner to develop a Carbon Farming Action Plan to the funding end execution of the plans have been taking years.

The solution

Accelerating sustainable land management with a digitalized funding and implementation process

The Sustainable Land Initiative began in December 2021. Representatives from counties, municipalities, RCDs, private businesses, and landowners participated in a series of interviews to inform and identify the process most appropriate for rapid implementation and maximum potential benefit to the region and landowner.

This standard process was influenced by local expertise as well as state and national best practices and tools to accelerate improved water management and carbon sequestration through agriculture and sustainable land practices. The process provides a consistent means of estimating and measuring impact and increases funding for further initiatives.

The process designed the first step of the Sustainable Land Initiative will accelerate the speed of action and exponentially increase the positive environmental impact. What once took a landowner several years, should be achieved within weeks or months.

Intake

‍Landowners have the ability to easily and consistently express interest in adopting sustainable land practices. The RCDs will receive all necessary information to proceed with a land assessment. The intake process provides RCDs with justification for consistent funding for technical assistance reducing the need to find one-off funding for each landowner.

Assess

Through a combination of publicly available data and on-site analysis, RCD staff can rapidly, consistently and effectively identify opportunities for sustainable land use that will reduce the severity of or counteract climate impacts.

Prioritize

‍Landowners are presented with an easily digestible overview of sustainable practices appropriate for their land that includes estimated cost, timeline, impact, and proposed funding source. RCD staff will advise landowners on each proposed project and enable the landowner to make an informed decision on which projects to push forward.

Fund

‍The intake, assess, and prioritize steps provide RCD staff with all the information necessary to secure funding without burdening landowners. Based on landowner priorities, RCD staff will facilitate securing of funds, such as grant applications and NGO partnerships. RCD involvement eliminates the need for landowners to navigate a convoluted grant environment that often hinders progress. This will improve quality, speed, and amount of funding.

Implement

‍RCD staff will remain involved as project managers, if desired by landowners, to help secure and coordinate the equipment, expertise, and labor necessary to design and deliver on landowners sustainable goals. This reduces the burden on landowners’ time and will provide economies of scale that reduce cost to deliver.

Measure

‍Consistently estimating and measuring the impact of projects by trained RCD staff using scientific best practices provides confidence that the Central Coast is meeting their regional climate goals. Consistently measuring impact will inform future initiatives, allowing the region to maximize future impact. Communicating and marketing the success of these initiatives will increase future funding and provide a playbook for other parts of the state and nation to adopt.

The solution is a fully digitalized process for identifying and assessing sustainable practices that leads to rapid implementation of those practices and the sequestration or reduction in GHG by allowing RCDs to rapidly connect landowners with funding and technical assistance to implement sustainable practices.

Identify and prioritize landowners interested in implementing sustainable practices
Rapidly assess the viability of a property during a site visit via tablet or mobile device and tie potential practices to grant funding
Prioritize practices based upon landowner needs, capabilities, and interest
Rapidly complete grant applications as part of assessment process
Develop a regional inventory of sustainable projects that could be quickly implemented in the future

The result

Scaling sustainable land practices for carbon sequestration and water management across California

The Upper Salinas-Las Tables Resource Conservation District’s “Sustainable Land Initiative” has piloted a replicable process improving the speed and scale. This impacts how sustainable land practices can be conducted in the region, since it is a scalable solution that can be adopted across the state and beyond.

The process proactively identifies properties with the greatest potential for water management and carbon reduction or sequestration and helps to streamline the funding, implementation, and monitoring of those projects. This will enable rapid, effective, and measurable reduction or sequestration in greenhouse gases and water retention through agriculture and other sustainable land practices.

California’s Central Coast has a wealth of lands well suited for carbon removal and sequestration. The project accelerates the implementation of sustainable farming initiatives in the Central Coast, while at the same time providing other regions of the state and country with a playbook for similar execution.

The future objective is to provide municipalities, counties, RCDs and other interested parties across the state with an immediate means of leveraging sustainable land practices to achieve their carbon reduction and water management goals while benefiting landowners.

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