Our planet is in serious trouble. There are a million species of plants and animals in danger of extinction, and the biggest cause is companies destroying their habitats to farm food, mine minerals, and otherwise get the raw materials to turn into the products we all consume.So, when Mauricio Serna was in college, he realized his family's plot of land in Colombia, called El Globo, presented a unique opportunity. Sure, it had historically been a cattle ranch. But if he could get the money to turn it back into cloud forest, perhaps it could once again be a habitat for the animals who used to live there — animals like the yellow-eared parrot, the tree ocelot, and the spectacled bear (of Paddington fame).On today's show, Mauricio's quest to make a market for a new-ish financial instrument: the biodiversity credit. We peek under the hood to try to figure out how these credits actually work. Is the hype around them a bunch of hot air? Or could they be a critical tool for saving thousands of species around the world?Today's episode was hosted by Stan Alcorn and Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi. It was co-reported by Tomás Uprimny. It was produced by James Sneed, edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer. Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
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A few months ago, freelance reporter Stan Alcorn was in a crowded hotel lobby in Cali, Colombia. Test, test, test.
Okay. Yeah, I was there to meet a 29-year-old Colombian who was trying to sell a new financial instrument he thinks could help save the planet. Good morning. Hello. What's the plan?
The plan is to talk to clients. Mauricio Serna says the plan is to talk to clients. He's got long curly hair, an untucked green shirt, and on his phone, a list of these potential buyers. They're standing all around the hotel lobby in lanyards and business casuals.
I have Sunny Pictures Entertainment, I have PepsiCo, the Rockefeller Foundation.
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Chapter 2: Who is Mauricio Serna and what is his mission?
The biodiversity credit companies packed up their giant Jenga blocks and tequila offerings, and the multinational executives jetted back to their corporate headquarters.
And I started thinking about what this all means on the ground, in a place like El Globo. I thought back to this moment where I was standing with Mauricio, looking out over the surrounding land that straddles his family's ranch. Wow. What do you see? What I see is green rolling hills. What's actually called a green desert because there's almost no biodiversity here at all.
So those like crop kind of thing that you were looking at are avocado. Those like big trees that look like a green carpet are pine trees. And all the rest is for cattle ranching.
Avocado farms, pine plantations, and cattle ranches. Biodiversity credits haven't changed the fact that these are still the most profitable ways to use this land. With a push from government, maybe that could change?
Thank you.
Today's episode was co-reported by Tommaso Primni. It was produced by James Sneed, edited by Jess Jang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Sina Lofredo. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.
This story was produced with support from the Internews Earth Journalism Network. I'm Stan Alcorn.
And I'm Alexi Horwitz-Ghazi. This is NPR. Thanks for listening.
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