Perpetuity, Latent Ancillary Rights, and Carbon Offsets in Global Warming Era Conservation Easements

Abstract

This article makes two recommendations regarding drafting global warming era conservation easements. The first recommendation addresses how conservation easements can be drafted to preserve perpetuity, a key component of conservation easements and one that is threatened by global warming caused changes on eased lands. The second recommendation focuses on how conservation easements can be drafted to create revenue by turning latent ancillary rights such as carbon sequestration into marketable carbon offsets.

Keywords: conservation easements, global warming, global climate change, carbon offsets