Webinar: Conservation Trust Funds

Closing The Gap: Financing and Resourcing of Protected and Conserved Areas in Eastern and Southern Africa

Following the successful launch of the report Closing the Gap - Financing and Resourcing of Protected and Conserved Areas, partners including the IUCN, World Commission on Protected Areas and Conservation International invite you to this event on Conservation Trust Funds as a means to increase revenue, enhance sustainability and improve management efficiency.

When: December 9th, 15:30 EAT
RSVP: Required

Speaking on the panel is our very own Katy Mathias!

Please register below!

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.

SeyCCAT Webinar

Partnerships for ocean conservation and climate action.

This year, we celebrate 5 years since the establishment of SeyCCAT. SeyCCAT has successfully turned a blue economy vision into concrete impactful action. Within 5 years, the funds available for the sustainable financing of ocean conservation, sustainable fisheries and climate action, via the Blue Grants Fund, has more than tripled. So far, SeyCCAT has channelled more than SCR 6.9 million (approximately, US$ 500,000) to support marine protected areas and the Seychelles marine spatial plan. It continues to support Seychelles' ocean and climate ambition by supporting the marine spatial planning initiative and the integration of blue carbon into Seychelles' nationally determined contributions. SeyCCAT's success is intertwined with the support it has received from its partners. To commemorate SeyCCAT@5, its webinar is dedicated to partnerships for ocean conservation and climate action!

Africa’s Ocean Innovation Summit pitch opportunity!

Africa’s Ocean Innovation Summit pitch opportunity!

Ocean Innovation Africa is looking for African-based startups (or operating in Africa with local offices) with disruptive business models and/or innovative products and services with direct or indirect positive impact on the oceans to feature in the pitch competition at Ocean Innovation Africa 2020.

Know of a potential startup? Let them know!

Read more here

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

Sustainable Finance for Conservation RedLAC / CAFÉ (Virtual Conference)

RedLAC and CAFÉ invite you to register to our joint virtual congress that will happen from October 6th to 8th, 2020, and will be focused on finding new opportunities for the planet in the post-2020 agenda.

The event will have multiple sessions with high-level speakers that will address the future of CTFs, fundraising priorities, the 30x30 goals, social and environmental safeguards, private sector engagement, and sustainable investment. There will also be opportunities for virtual networking between participants and cultural exchanges. All sessions (except for breakout rooms) will be translated to Spanish and French.

Register for free and engage with a global community of conservation finance practitioners, including environmental funds, donors, impact investors, NGOs, the private sector, and government authorities.

Beyond Tourism in Africa: Diversifying Community Livelihoods From Wildlife (Application Window Open)

The Luc Hoffmann Institute, the African Leadership University’s School of Wildlife Conservation and the WWF Regional Office for Africa are launching a global innovation challenge. This challenges aims to discover and incubate new revenue models that do not depend on tourism, but still enable local communities within African countries to obtain their livelihoods from wildlife, manage their natural resources sustainably, and improve their collective wellbeing. Participants have the chance to win a place in the African Leadership University’s incubation programme and access to seed money. 

Open from 1 September 2020 to 15 October 2020

Forum on Green Finance and Investment - OECD (Virtual Conference)

The OECD Forum on Green Finance and Investment is the annual flagship event of the OECD Centre on Green Finance and Investment. Now in its seventh year, the Forum gathers senior policy makers and key public and private actors for action-oriented discussions on green and sustainable finance issues. 

When: October 6 - 9, 2020

Full Recording of the September 16th High-Level Event!

Following the successful launch of the Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR), we are pleased to provide a full recording of the high-level event for those that may have missed it. The recording can be accessed directly or through the GFCR landing page, which will be replaced by a full website in the coming weeks. The launch of the official website will be the best place to get more information on the GFCR blended finance model, news, upcoming events and projects.

Many thanks to those that attended and our many distinguished speakers!

COVID19 and the Conservation Finance Community: Blended Finance

The fifth Coronavirus and the Conservation Finance Community online discussion will dive into the benefits of Blended Finance for Nature as a robust conservation finance mechanism in the time of Coronavirus and beyond.

July 31st, 11am EST
Registration required

Blended Finance is defined as “the use of catalytic capital from public or philanthropic sources to increase private sector investment in sustainable development” (Convergence).  This was one of the conservation finance mechanisms that remains potentially robust despite the current Covid19 pandemic (see CFA Covid discussion).  Three panelists coming from diverse organizations active in this area will discuss the benefits and challenges of Blended Finance as a conservation finance mechanism. They will discuss, in the time of coronavirus, how Blended Finance can be used to ensure the continuation of capital flows and alignment of incentives in conservation worldwide. Some specific topics may include how the current Covid19 pandemic has impacted the formation and execution of Blended Finance mechanisms. As well, looking ahead, what are some of the lessons learned as a result of this pandemic that can help strengthen Blended Finance mechanisms.

Moderated by:

David Meyers - Executive Director, CFA

Panelists

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Adhiti Gupta - Convergence

Adhiti is a Manager at Convergence where she leads the market acceleration program for blended finance vehicles in emerging markets. She manages Design Funding, which provides early stage grant support for the design of blended finance vehicles aligned to the SDGs that aim to attract private capital at scale. Prior to Convergence, Adhiti advised funds, family offices and foundation making impact investments in developed and emerging markets while working at RPCK, a boutique law firm in New York City.

Adhiti has previously practiced in India, where she advised on cross-border M&A transactions and private equity/venture capital transactions. Adhiti also counseled social enterprises as a consultant with Accion Microfinance Council and a project manager with Columbia Impact Investing Initiative. Adhiti holds a master’s degree from Columbia Law School, and a law degree from National Law School of India University. She has been awarded the Temasek Foundation Leadership Enrichment and Regional Networking Award by the National University of Singapore.

Gregory Watson - Natural Capital Lab, IDB

Gregory Watson currently leads the IDB’s Natural Capital Lab, funded with $44M from the governments of France and the United Kingdom.  The lab serves as a one-stop shop for the IDB Group and partners to drive innovation in natural capital finance and biodiversity mainstreaming.  ​It was created to incubate, accelerate, and scale new solutions to pressing environmental problems by looking at nature as asset.  Previously, Gregory was a Lead Specialist at the IDB Lab’s Climate-Smart Agriculture team. He led the IDB’s first equity investment in oceans, led an award-winning Forest Investment Program equity investment in a silvopastoral system in Brazil, helped develop the first Biodiversity Habitat Bank in Latin America, worked to develop a new asset class for natural capital trading, and designed other private sector projects in forestry, development impact bonds, and technology in the natural capital space.

Prior to this, he led the IDB Lab Environment and Clean Energy team in conceptualizing, overseeing, and implementing projects, investments, and research in clean and efficient energy, natural capital, and adaptation.    He created the EcoMicro green microfinance program, which was selected by the UNFCCC as a global “Lighthouse Award”.  He also conceptualized and launched the Climatescope, the first-ever ranking of the investment climate for climate investment in the Latin America and Caribbean region, and designed the first private sector Forest Investment Program project in the world, in Mexico.  A successful fundraiser, he also raised over $50M from the GCF, CIFs, and bilateral donors in this position.

Mr. Watson has a Master’s degree in International Development from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a bachelor’s from Tufts University.

Avril Benchimol - Blended Finance, Global Environment Facility

Avril Benchimol is leading the blended finance initiative at the GEF. She has sixteen years of experience in capital markets and structured finance both in multilateral institutions and investment banking. For the last eight years she worked at IDB-Invest, the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and at IDB Lab, designing and executing financial solutions for private sector clients in Latin America and the Caribbean. The projects included the use of guarantees, loans, and structured financing to issue sustainable and green bonds in both local currency and USD. She also led a green microfinance facility in 11 countries that facilitated microfinance clients’ mitigation and adaptation initiatives.

Prior to joining the IDB Group, she spent six years working in investment banking for Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas Fortis in London, Madrid, and Brussels. Her main areas of expertise included the structuring and origination of equity and debt transactions as well as the sales of structured equity derivatives. In 2011, she received her Master’s of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown, where she graduated with honors.

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Background on the Conservation Finance Alliance and the Coronavirus and Conservation Finance Community Series

The Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) is the leading global professional alliance of conservation finance experts, practitioners, and organizations.  The CFA’s mission is to promote awareness, expertise, and innovation in conservation finance globally.

The CFA has recently introduced a new series of online discussions regarding the impact of COVID-19 on conservation finance, titled “Coronavirus and the Conservation Finance Community”.

To date, three online discussions have been held. The first discussion focused generally on CTF’s, with representatives from CAFÉ and RedLAC discussing how the pandemic was impacting operations, finance flows, and what the future could look like. The second discussion identified specific conservation finance tools that are viewed as most robust in the face of the crisis. Following the taxonomy of conservation finance mechanisms outlined in the CFA white paper “Conservation Finance: A Framework”, three tools were identified: Public-Private Partnerships, Blended Finance, and Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Development.

The CFA is continuing the discussion by holding three additional online calls, focusing on each of these priority finance mechanisms.  The first of the three calls, which focused on Public-Private Partnerships with an emphasis on Marine Protected Areas, was recently completed on June 18th (recording available here).

The remaining calls are Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Development planned for July 10th and Blended Finance planned for sometime in late July (date will be announced shortly).