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

Food and Agriculture Organization Seeks Climate Finance Specialist

The Food and Agriculture Organization is seeking a Climate Finance Specialist to work on the REDD+ team in Rome, Italy. The deadline for applications is March 15th, 2019. For further information please see the full job posting from FAO.

ADB opportunity : Scaling Up Private Sector Participation and Use of Market-Based Approaches for Environmental Management - Environmental Economics Expert

Asian Development Bank Seeks Environmental Economics Expert

The full ToR and further information on the position is available here.

TA 9093-REG supports increasing knowledge on the applicability of market-based approaches for environmental management (MBAEM). The TA is supporting an ongoing regional review and stocktaking on the use, applicability, and potential upscaling of MBAEM to address key environmental challenges in the region, including pollution control and prevention, watershed management, and sustainable urban development, among others. In addition to building knowledge and providing recommendations for policy options in Asia, the review will build on ongoing global efforts to document and study the use of innovative policy instruments for environmental management. A team of consultants has produced a draft stocktaking report, which has important content, but could benefit from augmentation and revision. The draft covers market based instruments applied to air pollution, for water management/pollution, and for waste, as well as market based instrument concepts and policy recommendations for improvements. An international consultant with expertise in environmental economics will be engaged to provide substantive technical and editorial inputs to the stocktaking report and fill gaps in content. The consultant will work with an international team of experts, who are providing technical inputs on global and regional experiences and applications of MBAEM. The consultant will also work with a data and information specialist, who will support preparation of an inventory of selected national programs and policies applying MBAEM, which will serve as inputs to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Policy Instruments for the Environment (PINE) database.

Birdlife Seeks Trainer/Presenter for Sustainable Landscape Business Planning Workshop

Birdlife looking for a trainer/presenter to run a session on sustainable landscape business planning in a workshop they are hosting in the first week of April.  Please circulate within your networks!

 This is part of BirdLife Forest Programme’s new initiative called the Forest Landscape Sustainability Accelerator, supported through the Trillion Trees partnership. Through this mechanism, they are delivering a direct, multi-faceted programme of support, to address the specific challenges BirdLife Partners face in accessing sustainable financing and funding for priority forest landscapes.

 The Accelerator workshop is running 1-5th April, at the Cambridge Conservation Initiative hub in the David Attenborough Building. It aims to build the capacity for sustainable funding and financing of a group of approx. 20 staff from 10 different BirdLife Partners working on large-scale tropical forest landscape programmes.

 They are looking for an individual or a group of presenters and facilitators for a session focused on landscape business and financial planning, which will be held on Friday 5th April running between 9:00 – 13.30.

 Please note that unfortunately they are only able to cover travel for those coming from within the UK.

 If this is of interest, please find the details of this opportunity attached.

Survey of Protected Area Finance Capacity Needs

This survey is designed to better understand the knowledge and capacity development needs of the broad conservation community with regards to protected area finance. The results will help to inform the work of the Conservation Finance Alliance Working Group on Protected Areas Finance, and through the CFA, it will be used to inform the wider community of protected area finance practitioners.

Protected area finance may be defined as “the ability to secure stable and sufficient long-term financial resources, and to allocate them in a timely manner and appropriate form, to cover the full costs of protected areas (direct and indirect) and to ensure that PAs are managed effectively and efficiently” (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2005).

The survey is designed for conservation practitioners that work in protected areas or on protected area issues. It should take approximately 15 minutes to complete and the information you provide will be held in strict confidence. Only aggregate results will be shared.

The survey is available in three languages: English, French, and Spanish. We would greatly appreciate your participation. Please use the buttons below or visit the CFA site to proceed to the survey in your preferred language.

ENGLISH

ESPAÑOL

FRANÇAIS

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.

Winner of 2018 Pathfinder Awards for Innovative Solutions in Protected Area Finance

Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust wins the 2018 Pathfinder Award

The Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust (PONT), winner of the inaugural award, is a transboundary conservation trust fund in the Balkans that has established long-term financing, which is additionally used to attract co-financing for important conservation activities. Mirjam de Koning, the Executive Director of PONT accepted the award from the Egyptian Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad, at the opening of the CBD COP 14 in November. Read the full story here to learn about the other winners. 

Watch the BIOFIN/PANORAMA joint webinar: Innovative Protected Areas Financing and Resourcing Solutions, featuring the winners of the 2018 Pathfinder Awards.

*Photo from BIOFIN site