Goals: Co-Benefits
Goals for Co-Benefits define goals for additional services and benefits such as carbon sequestration, flood risk reduction, local community benefits, etc. as desired to meet established local and national goals, and/or contribute to international commitments (such as Sustainable Development Goals).
Examples
The following bullets are examples that were set in 2017.
Long-term goals
- Maintenance of current carbon sequestration capacity in watershed through 2040
- 20% increase in carbon sequestration capacity in watershed by 2040
- Eliminate local population expenses for alternative water supplies due to water supply disruptions by 2040
- Lower flood-based economic losses associated with 10-25 year floods by 50% by 2040
- Increase average annual income generated by alternative actions/livelihoods of local people in the watershed 20% by 2040
Short-term goals
- 5% increase in carbon sequestration by 2022
- 20% reduction in alternative water supply expenses due to water supply disruptions by 2022
- 5% increase in average annual income generated by alternative actions/livelihoods of people in the watershed by 2022
Other examples with indicators (socioeconomic indicators/benefits to people):
● Through no disruption in water supplies, people will no longer spend $50/year on alternative water supplies during times of disrupted service
Example of indicator: # Annual costs per person for alternative water supply
● Through reduced sedimentation loading, additional water filtration infrastructure does not need to be built, saving $10 million in municipal expenditures
Example of indicator: # Previous planned infrastructure development no longer needed as a result of green infrastructure efforts, avoided costs
● In 20 years, 120 kilometers of stream improve designated use class from non-contact recreation to swimmable and fishable
Example of indicator: # Water quality sampling indicates improvements above thresholds for designated use categories
● In 10 years, the Total Daily Maximum Load for 34 kilometers of designated stream are achieved through phosphorous reduction and those stream reaches are no longer 303d listed
Example of indicator: # Number of kilometers that are no longer 303d listed as not achieving the designated TMDL
Video
What is the Global Water Atlas?
Listen to Kari Vigerstol of TNC discuss a robust new tool & report that analyzes the benefits of SWP