CIPFA and Humentum launch consultation on first ever international non-profit guidance

A public consultation, launched January 28 2021 by CIPFA and Humentum, gives non-profit organisations (NPOs) and their stakeholders the opportunity, for the first time, to contribute to the development of global financial reporting guidance.

The consultation, which is part of the International Financial Reporting for Non-Profit Organisations (IFR4NPO) initiative, will consider views from all over the world, including finance staff and NPO senior leaders, as well as funders, regulators, auditors, banks and members of the public.

While international reporting standards have been developed for the private and public sectors, the future IFR4NPO guidance will resolve the current absence of an international reporting standard specific to the non-profit sector.

The consultation will be open for comments on general financial reporting issues until 30 July 2021, and for sector-specific accounting issues until 24 September 2021.

IUCN World Conservation Congress New Dates

The IUCN Council is pleased to inform you that, in consultation with the Host Country, the new dates for the IUCN Congress 2020 will be from the 3 to 10 September 2021.

Practice Standards for Conservation Trust Funds

The CFA is proud to release the new report "2020 Practice Standards for Conservation Trust Funds".

Building on the original edition produced in 2014 by Barry Spergel and Kathleen Mikitin, these voluntary Practice Standards for Conservation Trust Funds serve as a tool for improving the design, management, and monitoring and evaluation of CTFs. CTFs and their donors can decide to use, aspire to, or adapt the Practice Standards to fit their particular needs. It is hoped that they will also continue to serve as a basis for greater harmonization of international donor rules, standards, and policies for CTFs, resulting in lower transaction costs and greater conservation impact.

Authors: Authors: Paquita Bath, Viviana Luján Gallegos, and Amílcar Guzmán Valladares

Read more about the project here

CFA Webinar: Debt Conversions

Please join the us for a webinar on debt conversions (also known as debt for climate and nature swaps), a finance instrument that allows countries to reduce their national debt and reallocate funds for sustainable development and conservation projects.

Date: November 16th
Time: 11:00am EST
RSVP: Required

During the webinar, we will provide a brief overview of this instrument and some lessons learned from previous projects. We will also engage the authors of the recently released paper "Tackling the Triple Crisis: Using debt swaps to address debt, climate and nature loss post-COVID19" along with a Q&A session moderated by CFA's Executive Director, David Meyers. 

Miss the webinar? View it below!

Please join the us for a webinar on debt conversions (also known as debt for climate and nature swaps), a finance instrument that allows countries to reduce ...

Meet our panelists

Paul Steele - International Institute for Environment and Development

Paul Steele, chief economist for IIED, is focused on the linkages between environment, climate and poverty reduction and has more than 20 years' experience working for international organisations, including the United Nations Development Programme, the European Union, the World Bank and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Sejal Patel - International Institute for Environment and Development

Sejal Patel is an environmental economist who has worked in public policy analysis, climate finance and governance, and climate-resilient development. Her work concentrates on bridging international, national and local level climate policy responses and resourcing

Kevin Bender - The Nature Conservancy

Kevin Bender is TNC’s Acting Deputy Managing Director, NatureVest. He leads TNC’s initiatives to finance conservation and climate adaptation via the structuring of sovereign debt conversions globally.

CFA webinar: Launch of the CFA’s “Conservation Trust Funds 2020: Global Vision, Local Action”

Date: November 12th
Time: 11am -12:30pm EST
RSVP: Required

Please join us on Thursday, November 12 for the long-awaited launch of "Conservation Trust Funds 2020: Global Vision, Local Action,"- a comprehensive analysis of Conservation Trust Funds (CTFs) over the past decade and into the future.
 
During this 90-minute webinar, authors Paquita Bath, Amilcar Guzmán-Valladares, Viviana Luján-Gallegos, and Katy Mathias will share key findings from the report.

Thierry Renaud from the MAVA Foundation and Bryna Griffin from BirdLife, donors to the project, will share some remarks.

David Meyers will moderate the panel discussion 
 

Meet our panelists:

Natalia Arango, Executive Director, Fondo Acción 
Scott Lampman, Director, Tropical Forest Conservation Act Secretariat, USAID
Sean Nazerali, Director of Innovative Financing, BIOFUND

This 10-year review was produced as a project of CFA's Environmental Funds Working Group, by a consulting team of Wolfs Company and Aligning Visions, in partnership with a highly engaged CFA Task Force. RedLAC and CAFÉ were key project partners.
 
The study was made possible through funding from Asociación Costa Rica por Siempre, Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM), Global Environment Facility (GEF) Secretariat, Master Capital LLC, MAVA Foundation, Trillion Trees (including BirdLife International, Wildlife Conservation Society and WWF-UK), and WWF-US.

We look forward to seeing you!

Photo credit: Jlhopgood

Financing Nature: Closing the Biodiversity Financing Gap

September 17th, 2020
10 - 11 am EST

Join Hank Paulson and a panel of VIPs for the launch of a landmark report that makes the economic case for valuing nature and explores innovative financing mechanisms and policies that could help close the biodiversity financing gap.

Earth is experiencing accelerating biodiversity loss driven by humans. Climate change, also driven by human activities, is exacerbating these dramatic declines in nature.

Although we will never be able to calculate the full value of nature, we know enough to realize that the destruction of nature presents profound risks to human societies.

Reversing this worrying trend will require a transformational shift in the way markets, and the discipline of economics more broadly, value nature. And this shift needs to be reflected across public and private sectors as well as the general public.

Directors for the CORB Fund

The Cubango-Okavango River Basin is one of the jewels of Africa, recognized globally as one of the world’s greatest natural wonders – with a unique inland delta teeming with wildlife and epitomized by its status as a Wetland of International Importance (Ramsar Site) and UNESCO’s 1,000th World Heritage Site. The countries of Angola, Botswana and Namibia jointly established the Cubango-Okavango River Basin Fund (CORB Fund), as a Company Limited by Guarantee in Botswana to sustain the integrity of this vast and important ecosystem together with the people who live within it. The CORB Fund is a fully independent hybrid fund that aims to enhance livelihoods, improve ecosystem resilience and provide equitable benefits to the riparian states of Angola, Botswana and Namibia, in their shared river basin. The Fund now seeks four highly motivated and experienced people to join the Board of Directors and help to protect the culture and nature of the Okavango and ensure the endurance of its people. The invitation for consideration to join the Board is now available on the OKACOM website and all individuals interested in becoming a part of this exciting and important new member of the conservation finance community can find the information for the Director positions at this web link:

BIOFUND Mozambique demonstrates the added value of CTFs, making 3 million USD available for a conservation response to COVID-19

This support is intended to help maintain the jobs of up to 950 of the 1,600 rangers in the National System of Conservation Areas, so as to guarantee the preservation of the country’s biodiversity during a phase in which the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are seriously affecting the conservation sector.

BIOFIN (Biodiversity Finance Initiative) COVID19 Crowdfunding Campaign

BIOFIN has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign in order to support the Tamaraws, a wild dwarf buffalo living in only one place in the world -- the island of Mindoro (the Philippines). Recently, due to COVID19, 32 of 35 wardens and 1 ranger previously operating in Mount Iglit Baco National Park, the last remaining bastion for the Tamaraws, have lost their jobs. The endangered Tamaraws are at risk of losing their protectors.

Please access the official communication from BIOFIN below, and participate in this crowdfunding campaign!

Webinar Series: Strengthening Protected Area Management Effectiveness

This series is part of the IUCN WCPA's "Vital Sites; the Journey to Marseille", a 6-month long series of online events and multimedia content to run between June 2020 and the rescheduled World Conservation Congress in January 2021. 

This four-part webinar series aims to strengthen and continue connections among protected area practitioners and those involved in the evaluation of management effectiveness for protected areas.