From October 29 to November 1, RedLAC - the Environmental Funds Network of Latin America and the Caribbean - held its 20th Annual Assembly, for the second time in Bolivia. This year's event, had two hosts: The Foundation for the Development of the National System of Protected Areas (FUNDESNAP) and the Foundation for the Conservation of the Chiquitano Forest (FCBC).
RedLAC is a knowledge and cooperation platform that currently brings together 22 Funds from 18 countries in the region. Its Assemblies are characterized by bringing together not only the members, but also international cooperation agencies (Development Bank of Latin America-CAF, Fonds Francais pour l'Environnement Mondial-FFEM, the Danish-DANIDA cooperation), the main international NGOs (including WWF, WCS and Conservation Finance Alliance-CFA) and conservation and finance experts. By bringing these participants together, the RedLAC Assemblies have become the most important forum on conservation finance issues in the region.
This year's Assembly focused on issues related to CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION FOR CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, as a key issue, but also presented solutions and challenges that affect all types of ecosystems and the financial needs for conservation and conservation. sustainable development.
For the first time, the Assembly was held in Bolivia. The organization of the event wanted to use this opportunity to highlight the environmental importance of INNOVATION and CREATIVITY and talk about the threats that affect them.
In addition to FUNDESNAP and FCBC, which were co-hosts, other Bolivian organizations participated in both the agenda and participants of the event, including Agrotec, the National Service of Protected Areas (SERNAP) and the NGO Fundación Simón I. Patiño.
Workshop on Innovative Financing for Biodiversity Conservation
October 27-28 at RedLAC 2018 in Bolivia
As part of the 2018 Assembly of the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Environmental Funds (RedLAC) the CFA is providing a two-day workshop for Environmental Funds and their partners. This training focused workshop is a collaborative effort by CFA, RedLAC, Project K, and the hosts: Fundación para el Desarrollo del Sistema Nacional de Áreas Protegidas (FUNDESNAP) and Fundación para la Conservación del Bosque Chiquitano (FCBC). The workshop aims to explore innovative tools that enhance Environmental Funds’ ability to finance and support biodiversity conservation. The workshop will use presentations, case studies, and facilitated group discussions to share innovations and learnings for several mechanisms in half-day sessions including: 1) Biodiversity Offsets, 2) Impact Investing & Enterprise Incubators, 3) Financing Protected Areas through Tourism, and 4) a topic to be determined by the participants.
Workshop sessions will explore enabling conditions and design features useful for effective financing mechanisms, compare implementation in different situations, and learn from successes as well as failures.
The workshop will be held in Santa Cruz de las Sierra, Bolivia, October 27th-28th, 2018, in the 2 days prior to the RedLAC Assembly. Please register for both the RedLAC Assembly and the Workshop.
To Register for the Workshop: https://goo.gl/forms/gZDfvySqUr8WSjjW2
For more information contact: redlac@naturapanama.org
Please see the downloadable workshop description for further information.
Updates from the RedLAC Assembly
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, was the host city for the 19th RedLAC Assembly on November 2017. This is one of the most important meetings about cooperation among environmental funds and financing for conservation in the region. For the first time three funds hosted the Assembly Fundacion Sur Futuro, Fondo Marena and Caribbean Biodiversity Fund.
One hundred and sixty-two attendees from four continents were able to exchange during four days information and experiences thanks to this valuable networking taking place during the Assembly.
This year’s Assembly theme was the Blue Economy, focusing in particular on the importance of coastal and marine ecosystems for sustainable development and how Environmental Funds can play a crucial role in this agenda. Thematic panels discuss the concepts of the Blue Economy, its perspectives, the relationship with the tourism sector and actions to adapt to climate change. As every year, the agenda was complemented with panels dedicated to financial, investment and environmental fund management issues.
Presentations, photos, and information from the assembly will be available on the CFA Site later this week.
Last Chance to Register for Workshop at RedLAC Assembly
For those attending the upcoming RedLAC Assembly in Punta Cana, this is your last chance to register for the Investment Management Principles and Practices Workshop being held October 28th-30th. This 2.5-day workshop will focus on fundamentals in investment management and will be offered exclusively to Trustees, Board members, senior and financial staff of Conservation Trust Funds and Environmental Funds.
Registration submissions will be accepted until this Friday, October 20th. You can register here and find more information on the workshop on our website.
Conservation Finance Alliance Dinner at the RedLAC Assembly
For those members of CFA who are planning to attend the RedLAC Assembly in Punta Cana, DR, we hope you will join Executive Committee members Lorenzo Rosenzweig and John Adams, along with Katy Mathias from the Secretariat, for an informal dinner and discussion on Wednesday, 1 November. This will be an opportunity for a collaborative discussion and networking among members. Location and time to be announced. Please RSVP to let us know if you are interested.
Save the Date for RedLAC Assembly
After 13 years, the RedLAC Assembly will take place again in the Caribbean and for the first time it will be co-hosted by three members: the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF), Fundación Sur Futuro, and Fondo MARENA. This year’s Assembly theme will be the Blue Economy and we are delighted to invite you to our conference, which will be held from October 30th to November 2nd, 2017, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. We will provide our audience with ours speakers vision of the future of Environmental Funds (EFs), especially how to see EFs should diversify funding mechanisms, combining different types of financial tools.
For further information, please check out the Save the Date flyer or send questions to info@redlac.org.
Conservation Trust Fund Investment Survey (CTIS) for 2015 Now Available
The Wildlife Conservation Society and the Conservation Finance Alliance, in partnership with RedLAC and CAFÉ, are pleased to share the Conservation Trust Investment Survey report for Calendar Year 2015. Funding for the report was provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Linden Trust for Conservation, and Acacia Partners.
Each year we are grateful for the investment insights of Greg Alexander in the Foreword. Due to some timing constraints we are issuing the report without the Foreword for now, but will provide an updated document as soon as the Foreword is ready, likely in a week or two. Spanish and French versions will be ready shortly. The English version can be downloaded here or in the CTIS section of the library.