New Countries Eligible for Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship

Due to overwhelming interest in the fellowship, the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA)and the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner (OPOC) - in partnership with Conservation Strategy Fund, the Conservation Finance Alliance and the Wildlife Conservation Society - are pleased to expand the number of countries eligible to apply for the Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship. The goal of the fellowship program is to strengthen Pacific regional capacity in financing for improved ocean governance and health. 

Citizens or permanent residents of Cook Islands, Tokelau, Papua New Guinea, and Niue are now eligible to apply.

Citizens or permanent residents of Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu remain eligible. The fellowship program will now select up to 15 fellows for this first cohort.

This fellowship is part of the Pacific Ocean Finance Program, which is Component 3 of the Pacific Regional Oceanscape Program (PROP) - funded by World Bank and Global Environment Facility - and implemented through FFA and OPOC. The aim of the Pacific Ocean Finance Program is to improve the amount and efficacy of finance for Pacific Ocean governance.

The deadline to apply has been extended to May 10th, 2019.  

Click here for more information. 

Questions? Contact pacificfinancefellows@conservation-strategy.org.

Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship Program

The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner (OPOC) - in partnership with Conservation Strategy Fund, the Conservation Finance Alliance and the Wildlife Conservation Society - are pleased to invite applications for the Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship Program. This fellowship program is part of the Pacific Ocean Finance Program (POFP), which is Component 3 of the Pacific Regional Oceanscape Program (PROP) - funded by the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility - and implemented through FFA and OPOC.  The aim of the Pacific Ocean Finance Program is to improve the amount and efficacy of finance for Pacific Ocean governance. 

The objectives of the Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship Program are to 1) increase individual capacity of Pacific Islanders by providing professional development training in ocean finance and governance, and 2) advance finance initiatives promoting ocean governance and health both within institutions and across sectors in the Pacific Islands region through a program of mentored projects in fellows’ home countries.

The 9-month fellowship program will select, train and mentor 10 outstanding fellows in order to expand the pool of people in the region knowledgeable and skilled in conservation finance and to increase positive investment decisions, business models and policies for ocean health at local and national scales.  Pacific Ocean Finance Fellows will receive training, financial support and project mentorship between June 2019 and March 2020.

The deadline for applications is May 7th, 2019. Selection will be based on the eligibility and selection criteria outlined in the full announcement, available here.

Coral Reef Finance: An Essential Investment

A new article on Coral Reef Finance written by CFA Executive Director David Meyers is now live on Medium. The full piece is available here.

Photo credit: Sangeeta Mangubhai/WCS

CFA Publication - Finance Tools for Coral Reef Conservation: A Guide

This past December several CFA members released a paper on Finance Tools for Coral Reef Conservation. The paper is available for download below, and information from the webinar held about the paper in January 2019 is available on the webinars page.

Download: Finance Tools for Coral Reef Conservation: A Guide

Coral reefs are critical ecosystems that are home to more than 25% of all known marine species, while occupying less than one quarter of 1% of the Earth’s marine environment (IUCN, 2013). In June 2018, the 50 Reefs initiative culminated with the publication of a scientific study on coral reefs that are least vulnerable to climate change and have the greatest capacity to repopulate other reefs over time. To contibute to 50 Reefs, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) worked in conjunction with the Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) to create a working guide on the financial tools available for coral reef conservation. Financial tools are a means of securing reliable funding for conservation activities such as creating new protected areas, restoring ecosystems, and promoting sustainable tourism or aligning incentives of actors to improve conservation outcomes. This guide is intended to serve as a reference and resource for protected area managers and other professionals charged with achieving conservation and protection of coral reefs, and ensuring adequate financial means to do so.

Author(s): Venkat Iyer, Katy Mathias, David Meyers, Ray Victurine, & Melissa Walsh
December 2018

Photo credit: HANNES KLOSTERMANN / CORAL REEF IMAGE BANK

Recap of Webinar with Caribbean-Pacific Alliance

On February 6, 2019, Zdenka Piskulich, Marcello Hernandez and María José Gonzalez presented a CFA webinar on the Caribbean-Pacific Alliance and Blue Challenge.

The Caribbean-Pacific Alliance is a unique collaborative platform to address shared marine and coastal conservation issues in the Tropical Eastern Pacific and Caribbean oceans. The Alliance is composed of PACÍFICO (a platform of four Conservation Trust Funds in the Tropical Eastern Pacific), the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) Fund, and the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund. Together, they encompass two oceans, 16 countries, 4 million km2 and 5 World Heritage Sites, and through the Alliance, they have a structure to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration. One of the Caribbean-Pacific Alliance's first initiatives is Blue Challenge, an incubator to build the pipeline of investable projects in the conservation space through technical assistance. 

A recording of the webinar, and the Powerpoint presentation, are available on the Webinars page.

A second webinar in Spanish on the same content will be held in the coming weeks.

Cornerstone Partners to Launch a Global Fund to Save the World’s Coral Reefs

The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and Vulcan, Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen’s company and philanthropy, hosted a workshop in September 2018 to explore the creation of a Global Fund for Coral Reefs.

At the conclusion of the workshop, leading conservation finance experts unanimously recommended establishing a Global Fund with a dual focus:

• Facilitate the use of innovative financing mechanisms, including private, market-based investments in coral reef conservation and restoration; and

• Unlock financing for coral reef-related climate adaptation through the Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund, and the multilateral development banks (MDBs).

For further information on the Global Fund please see the full story from ICRI hereordownload the PDF flyer.

Requests for Proposals from M2PA

The Association for the Sustainable Financing of Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas (M2PA), is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to design a Mediterranean Conservation Trust Fund and to develop operational guidelines.

Please click here to see the RFP and Terms of reference with all the necessary information for interested Offerors. 

Deadline for submission : March 24th 2019.

CFA at the World Ocean Summit

The CFA and WCS, through generous support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Vulcan Inc. and the Pacific Ocean Finance Program, are collaborating with The Economist for the upcoming World Ocean Summit panel entitled: Masterclass 2—Mobilising Capital: Engaging Investors in Coral Reef Finance. David Meyers CFA Executive Director and Melissa Walsh - CFA Member - will be panelists in this session.  The World Ocean Summit will be held March 5-7 in Abu Dhabi.  Click here to register.  Please notify the CFA Secretariat if you will be coming so we can arrange for a meeting or dinner.

Pacific Ocean Finance Program Funding Opportunity

This is an advertisement for the Request for Expressions of Interest for the Development and Coordination of the Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship. Requests for Expressions of Interest may be downloaded from the program website.

Expressions of interest are due February 1st by 4pm Solomon Islands time.

The REOI brochure is available here for download.

M2PA Launches Request for Proposals

The Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas program (M2PA) launched a request for proposals (RFP) for a study on Mediterranean marine protected areas financial needs assessment and management effectiveness monitoring. This RFP is funded by the GEF as part of M2PA’s project “Long term financial mechanism to enhance Mediterranean MPA management effectiveness.” The results will inform, among others, the capitalization targets and the financial structure of the environmental fund and will be used to monitor the impact on the grants awarded to MPAs. 

The deadline for receiving proposals is November 16th 2018.  The request for proposals and terms of reference are available for download in French and English. Please share this request with your professional networks.