Rob Harmon:如何利用市場機制讓河川暢流不息

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Rob Harmon:如何利用市場機制讓河川暢流不息
这是一条河。 这是条小溪。 这是一条河。 国内到处都是这样的情形。 在美国有数以万计英里长的 干涸的溪流。 在这张地图上， 彩色的区域表示水资源冲突。 同样的问题也正出现在东方。 原因各有不同， 但主要是细节上的差异。 仅在蒙大拿州就有4000英里 干涸的溪流。 通常它们会滋养鱼类和其他野生动物。 它们是生态系统的血管， 它们通常是干涸的血管。
我想给大家讲讲 这些溪流其中一条的故事， 因为它是整个故事的原型。 这是仙人掌果溪。 它穿过一个人类聚集区域， 从东赫勒拿到赫勒拿湖。 其中有各种野生鱼类， 包括切喉鳟、褐鳟 和虹鳟。 几乎在过去 一百年中的每一年里, 它在夏天看起来都是这样。 我们是怎样走到今天这一步的呢？ 好的，回到十九世纪末期， 那时人们开始在如蒙大拿这样的地方定居。 总之，那儿有很多的水 而且没多少人。 但随着更多渴求水源的人出现， 最先定居于此的人们开始有点担心， 在1865年，蒙大拿通过了第一部水资源法。 简单的说，每个临水而居的人 都能分享水源。 奇妙地是，许多人都表现地愿意分享水源， 最先定居于此的人们 对此非常关注，还带来了他们的律师。 在1870年和1872年 有这样的先例， 都涉及仙人掌果溪。 而在1921年， 蒙大拿最高法院 裁定的一个案件中涉及仙人掌果溪， 其中裁定最先定居的人们 拥有首先、或更高的水资源权利。 这种高级的水资源权利很重要。
问题是，整个西部现在 看起来都像这样。 其中一些溪流 被超过其实际容量的 50倍至100倍的索取水源。 而更高级的水资源权利拥有者， 如果他们不主张他们的水资源权利， 就会冒着失去水资源权利， 以及随之而来的经济价值的风险。 因此他们没有动力去保护水源。 这不仅是一群人的事儿； 系统本身抑制了保护水源， 因为如果你主张水资源权利，就会失去它。 因此经历了几十年的诉讼 和拥有了现在140年的经验后， 我们仍然拥有这个。 这是个破碎的系统。 它抑制了对水源的保护， 因为，你不主张你的水资源权利， 就会失去它。 我确信大家都知道，这在农业团体 和环保团体间制造了重大的冲突。
好了。现在我要改变一下方式。 各位中的多数会很开心地了解到 演讲剩下的部分是免费的。 而知道其中涉及啤酒一些人也会很开心。 （笑声） 全国各地还发生了另一件事儿， 那就是企业们开始关注 他们的水足迹。 他们关心用水的安全和充足， 他们尝试在水源的使用上真正地有效率， 他们关心他们如何使用水源 所对他们的品牌形象造成的影响。 好的，这是个全国性问题， 但我想告诉大家蒙大拿州的另一个故事， 涉及啤酒。 我打赌你们并不知道，生产1品脱啤酒 需要消耗5品脱水。 如果算上所有排放的废水， 生产一品脱啤酒要消耗超过一百品脱的水。
现在蒙大拿的啤酒厂 已经做了许多措施 来减少水的消耗， 但他们仍然要用数百万加仑的水。 我的意思是，在啤酒中的水。 那么对于这些 遗留下来的会对生态系统 造成严重影响的水足迹， 他们所能做些什么？ 这些生态系统确实对 蒙大拿的啤酒厂和他们的顾客非常重要。 毕竟，在水和渔业 紧密相连。 而且某种程度上，渔业和啤酒 也紧密相连。 （笑声） 因此蒙大拿的啤酒厂和他们的顾客开始担忧， 他们在寻找一些能解决问题的方案。
那么他们如何才能解决这一遗留下来的水足迹呢？ 回忆一下仙人掌果溪。 到目前为止， 商业水源管理 一直局限于测量和减少使用上， 我们正在建议下一步 是恢复。 回忆一下仙人掌果溪。 它是个破碎的系统。 它抑制了对水源的保护， 因为你不主张你的水资源权利，就会冒着失去它的风险。 好了，我们决定把这两个世界连接起来 -- 有着水足迹的 企业的世界 和对这些溪流 有着更高级的水资源权利的农夫的世界。 在一些州， 高级水资源权利拥有者 能让他们的水留在溪流中 同时合法的保护它 并维护他们的水资源权利。 毕竟， 这是他们的水资源权利， 而如果他们想主张这一权利 来帮助水源中鱼类的成长， 他们有权这么做。 但他们没有动力这么做。
因此，与当地水务部门合作， 我们建立了一种这样做的动机。 我们付钱给他们，让他们把水留在溪流中。 这就是所发生的一切。 这个人做出了选择， 他合上了这个水闸， 让水呆在溪流中。 他并没有失去水资源权利， 他只是选择应用这一权利， 或是部分权利， 让水呆在溪流中，而不是流入田地。 因为他是高级的水资源权利拥有者， 他能保护水源免受溪流的其他使用者的伤害。 对么？ 他受雇让水呆在溪流中的。
他在测量保留 在溪流中的水流。 接着我们获取测量过的水源， 我们把它分成数千加仑大小的等份。 每个等份有一个序列号和一个证书， 接着啤酒厂和其他人 购买这些证书， 作为向退化的生态系统 注入水源的一种方式。 啤酒厂出钱 恢复河流中的水源。 这提供了一个简单、廉价 且可测的方式 来向这些退化的生态系统注入水源， 同时给农夫一个经济补偿 及让关心自己的水足迹的企业 一个简单易行的处理方法。
在140年的冲突 和100年的干涸之后， 一个诉讼和监管 没有解决的问题， 我们用一个基于市场的， 你情我愿的买卖双方聚在一起的解决方案解决了 -- 这个解决方案并不需要诉讼。 这就是给 那些关心他们的水足迹的人们 一个真正的机会， 把水送往急需的地方， 送往退化的生态系统中， 而与此同时 为使用了水源 而给农夫提供 适当的经济补偿。
这些交易使人们联合起来，而非敌对。 它们让人们联系起来而不是分开他们。 这为农村社区提供了所需的经济支持。 最重要的是，这有效果。 我们向退化的生态系统回馈了超过 四十亿加仑的水。 我们把高级级水资源权利拥有者 与蒙大拿的啤酒厂， 俄勒冈州的旅馆和茶业公司， 西南部的耗水众多的高科技公司联系了起来。 而当我们建立起这些联系， 我们就能，我们确实把 它这变成了这样。
非常感谢。
（掌声）

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Rob Harmon: How the market can keep streams flowing
This is a river. This is a stream. This is a river. This is happening all over the country. There are tens of thousands of miles of dewatered streams in the United States. On this map, the colored areas represent water conflicts. Similar problems are emerging in the East as well. The reasons vary state to state, but mostly in the details. There are 4,000 miles of dewatered streams in Montana alone. They would ordinarily support fish and other wildlife. They're the veins of the ecosystem, and they're often empty veins.

I want to tell you the story of just one of these streams because it's an archetype for the larger story. This is Prickly Pear Creek. It runs through a populated area from East Helena to Lake Helena. It supports wild fish including cutthroat, brown and rainbow trout. Nearly every year for more than a hundred years, it's looked like this in the summer. How did we get here? Well, it started back in the late 1800s when people started settling in places like Montana. In short, there was a lot of water and there weren't very many people. But as more people showed up wanting water, the folks who were there first got a little concerned, and in 1865, Montana passed its first water law. It basically said, everybody near the stream can share in the stream. Oddly, a lot of people showed up wanting to share the stream, and the folks who were there first got concerned enough to bring out their lawyers. There were precedent-setting suits in 1870 and 1872, both involving Prickly Pear Creek. And in 1921, the Montana Supreme Court ruled in a case involving Prickly Pear that the folks who were there first had the first, or senior, water rights. These senior water rights are key.

The problem is that all over the West now it looks like this. Some of these creeks have claims for 50 to 100 times more water than is actually in the stream. And the senior water rights holders, if they don't use their water right, they risk losing their water right, along with the economic value that goes with it. So they have no incentive to conserve. So it's not just about the number of people; the system itself creates a disincentive to conserve because you can lose your water right if you don't use it. So after decades of lawsuits and 140 years now of experience, we still have this. It's a broken system. There's a disincentive to conserve, because, if you don't use your water right, you can lose your water right. And I'm sure you all know, this has created significant conflicts between the agricultural and environmental communities.

Okay. Now I'm going to change gears here. Most of you will be happy to know that the rest of the presentation's free. And some of you'll be happy to know that it involves beer. (Laughter) There's another thing happening around the country, which is that companies are starting to get concerned about their water footprint. They're concerned about securing an adequate supply of water, they're trying to be really efficient with their water use, and they're concerned about how their water use affects the image of their brand. Well, it's a national problem, but I'm going to tell you another story from Montana, and it involves beer. I bet you didn't know, it takes about 5 pints of water to make a pint of beer. If you include all the drain, it takes more than a hundred pints of water to make a pint of beer.

Now the brewers in Montana have already done a lot to reduce their water consumption, but they still use millions of gallons of water. I mean, there's water in beer. So what can they do about this remaining water footprint that can have serious effects on the ecosystem? These ecosystems are really important to the Montana brewers and their customers. After all, there's a strong correlation between water and fishing. And for some, there's a strong correlation between fishing and beer. (Laughter) So the Montana brewers and their customers are concerned, and they're looking for some way to address the problem.

So how can they address this remaining water footprint? Remember Prickly Pear. Up until now, business water stewardship has been limited to measuring and reducing, and we're suggesting that the next step is to restore. Remember Prickly Pear. It's a broken system. You've got a disincentive to conserve, because if you don't use your water right, you risk losing your water right. Well, we decided to connect these two worlds -- the world of the companies with their water footprints and the world of the farmers with their senior water rights on these creeks. In some states, senior water rights holders can leave their water in-stream while legally protecting it from others and maintaining their water right. After all, it is their water right, and if they want to use that water right to help the fish grow in the stream, it's their right to do so. But they have no incentive to do so.

So, working with local water trusts, we created an incentive to do so. We pay them to leave their water in-stream. That's what's happening here. This individual has made the choice and is closing this water diversion, leaving the water in the stream. He doesn't lose the water right, he just chooses to apply that right, or some portion of it, to the stream, instead of to the land. Because he's the senior water rights holder, he can protect the water from other users in the stream. Okay? He gets paid to leave the water in the stream.

This guy's measuring the water that this leaves in the stream. We then take the measured water, we divide it into thousand-gallon increments. Each increment gets a serial number and a certificate, and then the brewers and others buy those certificates as a way to return water to these degraded ecosystems. The brewers pay to restore water to the stream. It provides a simple, inexpensive and measurable way to return water to these degraded ecosystems, while giving farmers an economic choice and giving businesses concerned about their water footprints an easy way to deal with them.

After 140 years of conflict and 100 years of dry streams, a circumstance that litigation and regulation has not solved, we put together a market-based, willing buyer, willing seller solution -- a solution that does not require litigation. It's about giving folks concerned about their water footprints a real opportunity to put water where it's critically needed, into these degraded ecosystems, while at the same time providing farmers a meaningful economic choice about how their water is used.

These transactions create allies, not enemies. They connect people rather than dividing them. And they provide needed economic support for rural communities. And most importantly, it's working. We've returned more than four billion gallons of water to degraded ecosystems. We've connected senior water rights holders with brewers in Montana, with hotels and tea companies in Oregon and with high-tech companies that use a lot of water in the Southwest. And when we make these connections, we can and we do turn this into this.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)