I'll be happy to jump in briefly on this one.
You mentioned Nova Scotia Nature Trust, which is an organization created in Nova Scotia for that kind of purpose. The problem is that done privately it's very expensive, and in practice relatively small advances have been made. The great part of it is that it involves communities, so that people get involved in it. So to some extent we make relatively small progress from an environmental perspective, but we make a lot of progress from a social perspective.
I would say that yes, it's a very good way to deal with things. On the other hand, if you put all your eggs in that basket, it won't work.