Using Private Property To Monetize Nature
By Karen Schumacher
Many wonder who is running the country as Biden slips into the world of senility. Actually, America is being run behind the scenes by groups of technocrats. Without any congressional authorization, these technocrats are taking actions in multiple government sectors, making policy through executive fiat, one of which is on natural resources.
Although first announced in April, 2022, the White House released the National Strategy To Develop Statistics For Environmental-Economic Decisions (SEED) in January, 2023, creating a U.S. system of “natural asset accounting” and environmental-economic statistics. SEED is a fancy and vague description about inventorying natural resources in the U.S. and then assigning a monetary value to them in the United States. Natural resources include forests, wetlands, animals, minerals, plants, water, or any other non-human resource. Calling it natural capital, the purpose is determining how those resource assets contribute to the economy. Twenty-seven federal agencies participated in developing this strategy (xi), along with a professor.
A couple of easy examples to understand this, protecting a forest with good forest management is more cost effective than fighting a forest fire, thus that is an economic value. Or, minimizing the use of water adds value to other economic activities such as recreational enjoyment or agriculture as more water is available.
SEED itself is a dry read but does contain some highlights. For example, it explains that the economic benefit from the government spending money on restoration of forests, water, or clean air does not capture the economic value of the investment (iv), so that value must be calculated. After all, “Change in Natural Asset Wealth—is an important indicator for sustainable development (pg 5).” Sustainable development of course is Agenda 2030.
Natural Capital Accounts (NCA)
Not to be confused with Natural Asset Companies (NAC) which were withdrawn from rule, Natural Capital Accounts (NCA) are entirely different.
Nature is treated as an asset by the government and incorporates those assets onto the national balance sheet, thus increasing the perception U.S. wealth. To do so, the U.S. incorporated “the internationally-agreed standards of the U.N. System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA)” (viii). Using this, the U.S. can determine if today’s consumption is being accomplished without compromising the future opportunities that nature provides (ix b). This is UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #12, making sure consumption does not exceed production.
Key terms related to all of this can be found on page 1, such as national economic accounts, which are statistics on U.S. production, consumption, investment, exports, imports, and savings. Therefore, “…returns on these investments would be reflected as increases in land or recreation values and would appear on the national balance sheet as increases in the Nation’s fixed capital (pg 8).” Somehow, these “natural capital accounts (NCA)” will begin to clarify the existing allocation of natural assets, and private landowners who contribute to increasing the stock of U.S. natural capital through conservation measures are included in the statistics. Private land ownership is being counted as part of the U.S. natural capital, not just public land. Private land in conservation is tracked through the Conservation Stewardship Atlas.
Water Accounts
A “water pilot account” experiment has already been conducted at a national, regional, and state level using the UN SEEA-Water accounting system. It is expected that “The quantity, quality, and timing of water availability should be included in water accounts. Water accounts can inform decisions related to water allocation, productivity, reuse, and distribution (pg 47).” “Water accounts can provide trusted data to address water resource management challenges at national and subnational scales”. Read that again. Is it being suggested that the federal government nationalize water for control of use? At the same time, the government also says “there is currently no international consensus on how to get to valuation on water (pg 15).”
However, pilots on all natural assets have been conducted since 2016 with the intention that account systems on all assets will be in full operation by 2036 (pg 28). SEED lists all of the federal agencies involved in water accounts, including WSWC, on page 48.
Groundwater resources will also be tracked in these water accounts and will “build on data from Federal, state, and private-sector sources (pg 49). Could that be private wells? Account information will be reported, by the government, “to the U.N., Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and International Monetary Fund (IMF) (pg 51).” What exactly will OECD do with that information? Create policies?
These water accounts can be used to determine how water is used for pricing, use and reuse, allocation between states, taxation, and permit allowances (4.1).
U.S. water withdrawals have been studied since the 1950’s (2.1). It is now studied in more detail, used for “international reporting.” and achieving sustainable development goal #6. “As the demand for water increases, allocations between households, agriculture, and other economic activities with high water use will need to be made.” That is what it is about, deciding how and where water will be allocated.
Land Accounts
Per the UN, “The SEEA EEA provides the standard structure for a series of tables that quantify attributes of ecosystems and the services they provide to people, in a manner theoretically compatible with the System of National Accounts and SEEA CF.” The SEEA CF integrates environmental information with economic information (4). It is these UN calculations that have been used to determine the value of land in the U.S., including private land having valued it at $25.1 trillion in 2020. Hmm, UN calculating value of private property in the U.S.. Information from the National Land Cover Database and Zillow (4.1) were used for the calculations.
The White House also considers private land as part of federal wealth. “Accounting for natural assets like land on our nation’s balance sheet is critical; omitting them would dramatically understate U.S. wealth.” It doesn’t separate public from private land, it just says land, valuing private land at “$32 trillion, equivalent to roughly 30% of the net wealth already measured in U.S. accounts“. Private land has already been measured for value on the federal balance sheet? For land valuation the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has worked on how its value is calculated.
Collateral Fraud
Providing a brief summary of Natural Asset Companies (NAC) and the Sustains Act at the 19:33″ mark, Margaret Byfield, American Stewards of Liberty, goes on to report at the 28:22″ mark how NCAs are being used as collateral to raise the U.S. debt ceiling, and expresses a legitimate concern that this is one attempt to nationalize water. Catherine Austin Fitts goes on to explain this is nothing more than collateral fraud by the federal government. If this is true, when other countries say pony up on your debt U.S., will these “assets” as collateral be used to pay that debt? Including private land? Another thought is that NCAs are needed to raise the debt ceiling, thus using natural resources as collateral.
In March, 2024 the House Committee on Natural Resources expressed its concerns regarding NCAs, noting it could “could shift decisions regarding the use and control of land from local communities and stakeholders to financial elites and foreign interests.” Others have expressed concern over the dangers of this “absurd” venture by the government. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), it was the U.S. Geological Services and other federal agencies that urged the U.S. “to adopt national capital accounts using the U.N. framework.”
Perhaps Byfield and Fitts are correct, this is nothing more than a collateral fraud scheme that now includes private land. On the other hand, this scheme is nothing more than a fulfillment of Agenda 21 Chapter 40.8.
“Countries and, upon request, international organizations should carry out inventories of environmental, resource and developmental data, based on national/global priorities for the management of sustainable development. They should determine the gaps and organize activities to fill those gaps.
Phase III of this agenda will further include other natural assets such as wildlife, soil, minerals and marine life (pg 61-62). So far, the White House considers the launch of this initiative as a success. How all resources are used will be determined by the government for equitable distribution.
This is an issue that will need close monitoring regardless of who is elected in November.