1. Expert Interview: Ecosystem
Services & Corporate Sustainability
Speaker: Jason A. Sohigian
12 September 2012
Prof. Graham Sinclair
http://www.sincosinco.com/
Sustainable Investment Masterclass
HEC Paris MBA Program
10-14 September 2012
http://www.mba.hec.edu/
2. Biography: Jason A. Sohigian
Jason A. Sohigian is Deputy Director of the Armenia Tree Project. He is
responsible for fundraising and communications among stakeholders
including donors, the media, and the environmental community.
In addition to his leadership role at ATP, Jason has been a Teaching
Fellow at Harvard University for courses on corporate sustainability and
greenhouse gas management. He was appointed as staff for the
Governor’s Special Commission on Financing Forest Conservation in the
State of Massachusetts.
Jason has been quoted and published in a number of periodicals and
Deputy Director, websites including CNN.com, National Geographic, and New York
Times. His research on the opportunities and challenges of ATP’s
Armenia Tree Project NGO Backyard Nursery Micro-Enterprise Program was presented at the World
Forestry Congress in Buenos Aires.
Twitter: @JasonSohigian
Skype: JasonSohigian He has a master’s in Sustainability and Environmental Management from
Harvard University. His thesis on Payments for Environmental Services
Nationality: USA was motivated by the findings of UNEP’s program on The Economics of
Degrees: Clark University ’93 Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) and it was presented at the 17th
Harvard University ‘10 annual conference of the International Sustainable Development Research
Society at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.
Memberships: Net Impact
Nature Conservancy He presented a talk at TEDx Yerevan in 2011 titled “Redefining Our
Work Experience: USA Economic Systems: Could a Forest Be Worth More Than a Gold Mine?”
Republic of Armenia which addressed the role of forests in a Green Economy.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jsohigian
3. What are ecosystem services?
Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005
5. How does it relate to sustainability?
New water filtration
plant = $6 billion
Forest conservation in
watershed = $1.5 billion
Catskill Watershed New York City’s drinking water
Source: ‘Redefining Our Economic Systems’ @ TEDx Yerevan http://youtu.be/ehpa1BTULVE
6. Examples of companies on board…
Some of the companies that ‘road-tested’ WBCSD Guide to Corporate Ecosystem Valuation
7. Some of the tools available…
Natural Capital Project InVEST software:
http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org/
Global Reporting Initiative “Approach for Reporting on
Ecosystem Services”:
https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/Approach-for-
reporting-on-ecosystem-services.pdf
World Business Council for Sustainable Development
“Guide to Corporate Ecosystem Valuation”:
http://www.wbcsd.org/work-program/ecosystems/ecosystems-
training-tools.aspx
