Global Environment Facility Approves USD 15m for the Food Securities Fund

From Clarmondial:

GEF Council approves support to the Food Securities Fund

Published: Monday, January 13th, 2020

The Food Securities Fund was one of the three Non-Grant Instruments (NGI) approved by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council in December 2019. The global emerging markets fund, which starts with a focus on Sub Saharan Africa, was deemed to be well-aligned with GEF focal areas, including on land degradation, biodiversity, and climate change mitigation.

In recognition of this, the GEF Council approved a commitment of USD 15 million to the Fund, with Conservation International acting as its agency. This funding will be unlocked by commitments from an anchor investor, which Clarmondial will announce in the coming weeks.

Clarmondial has designed the Food Securities Fund to create significant and measurable impact through its innovative value chain finance approach. Its targets include:

• positively impact the lives of farmers – and especially smallholder farmers and women;

• support local SMEs to grow the number of employees and training, notably for women and youth;

• contribute to the restoration of agricultural land;

• help to implement sustainable agricultural practices; and

• mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

Gustavo Fonseca, Director of Programs at the Global Environment Facility, said: “The Global Environment Facility is pleased to support this innovative blended finance strategy that demonstrates the opportunity to mobilize private sector capital at scale for urgent environmental issues.”

Agustin Silvani, Senior Vice President of Conservation Finance at Conservation International, said that “Conservation International takes an active role in supporting new investment vehicles that can contribute meaningfully to environmental objectives. We look forward to supporting Clarmondial on the implementation of the Food Securities Fund.”

Fred Werneck, co-founder of Clarmondial, said that “The Global Environment Facility and Conservation International will provide critical support to the Food Securities Fund. Their commitment highlights the social and environmental credentials of the Fund”.

* This announcement does not constitute an offer or solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction to purchase or sell any shares. No information in this announcement should be construed as providing financial, investment, tax or other professional advice.

View the full announcement on Clarmondial’s website.

MedFund Seeking Executive Director and Project Manager

Attached below are two job descriptions to be filled within the Fund for marine protected areas in the Mediterranean (MedFund). The deadline for applications is February 10th, 2020. Please share with relevant networks and colleagues.

Project Manager

Executive Director

American Forest Foundation Seeks Chief Financial Officer

Eighty years of work with landowners has earned us respect and credibility, but our future will be defined by our ability to create sustainable solutions to problems that are far bigger than us. We view our CFO as a social entrepreneur, helping us develop and launch a portfolio of new products and services.

 Solving some of the most urgent environmental and economic issues of today—cleaning our air, filtering our drinking water, sequestering carbon, creating wildlife habitat, reducing the risk of wildfires, increasing biodiversity, and supplying sustainable sources of wood—requires careful stewardship of our forests. Because individuals and families own 270 million acres of America’s forests (more than government and more than corporations), empowering family forest stewardship is an essential yet often overlooked piece of the forest puzzle. The American Forest Foundation (AFF) is leading the way in empowering family forest landowners to tackle these urgent issues and achieve significant impact.

 Building on our 80-year legacy of family forest stewardship, AFF is entering a new phase of rapid innovation. In our trusted position at the center of the family forest network and with the financial strength of $160 million in reserves, we’re developing and deploying sustainable business models that support forest owners as they address these important environmental, social, and economic issues. The technology company we acquired has helped us significantly increase our ability to connect private landowners with nonprofits, technical experts, government agencies, and conservation organizations. We’re reinventing the carbon market for family landowners and we’re helping companies that source wood from family forests do so sustainably. Our partners are some of the leading companies and financial institutions, the U.S. Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and conservation groups like The Nature Conservancy.

A full description of the position is available for download here or on their website.

Recording of the first CFA Incubator Information Webinar is now available

The Conservation Finance Alliance Incubator seeks to identify, support and promote innovative ideas and solutions to conservation finance challenges that have significant positive conservation impacts. Innovation is essential to identify and develop conservation finance solutions and is especially urgent given the current rates of biodiversity loss. This virtual incubator will identify and support five concurrent projects for incubation for periods of 9 to 12 months. Support will be in the form of grants and mentorship by CFA members.

This info session answers questions posed by members and gives further information on the Incubator program.

Consulting Opportunity in Cairo, Egypt

Strengthening Protected Area Financing and Management Systems

Project Consultancy services to deliver training course on tourism revenues management within protected areas

Please find at the link TORs for consultancy services for an international consultant to deliver a training course on effective mechanisms within protected areas to raise funds from tourism.

The deadline to apply is 12 January 2020

https://portals.iucn.org/union/sites/union/files/doc/5-1-2019-epasp.tor_revenues_020120_ext.pdf


The consultant is expected to focus on a range of tasks which involves, but is not limited to: (1) opportunities for generating revenues directly or indirectly from tourism within PAs; (2) structures for protected area management and implications for financing; (3) protected areas funding methods; (4) how to develop and implement effective tourism management plans for PAs; (5) how to match appropriate types of tourism to particular sites within PAs, taking into account conservation goals and tourism markets; (6) procedures for effective implementation of revenue raising mechanisms within PAs.

As outlined in the TORs, application should include a Technical Proposal and Financial Proposal. Submissions should be received by 15:00 (Cairo time) on 12 Jan 2020. Proposals should be clearly marked “Consultancy services to deliver training course on tourism revenues management within protected areas” and addressed to Dr. Khaled Allam at email: info@epasp.org; mobile: 01001288508. All queries should be directed to Dr Allam.

2020 Conservation Finance Boot Camp Applications Now Open

Applications are now open for Conservation Finance Network’s 14th annual Conservation Finance Boot Camp! The course will be held June 22nd-26th, 2020, at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in New Haven, CT. They are not only excited to return the course to its founding location, but also to host with our partners at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment. New England is a dynamic landscape for conservation funding and finance, exhibiting leadership in philanthropy and innovation in the land trust and land conservation movement. They are excited to complement the national perspective of the Boot Camp with case studies from the region.  

Please see the Boot Camp webpage for more information, and be sure to submit your application by January 31st!

What We're Reading: COMBO - Reducing Infrastructure Impacts on Biodiversity

By Hugo Costa, Hugo Rainey & Ray Victurine | December 16, 2019

Over the past four years, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), together with its partners Forest Trends and Biotope, have been operating an innovative program called Conservation, Impact Mitigation and Biodiversity Offsets (COMBO) in Africa. The programs overarching aim is as simple as it is ambitious: to reconcile economic development with the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

To learn more about this project please view the full article here.

What We're Reading: Investing in Nature - Private Finance for Nature-based Resilience

The Nature Conservancy joined forces with Environmental Finance to better understand what major investors are looking for, what obstacles they face and what can be done to help them scale up investments in projects that protect or enhance natural capital. They conducted a global survey of asset owners, asset managers and financial intermediaries (including banks, investment advisors, consultancies, government agencies and NGOs) and attracted responses from 168 institutions. This was complemented by 23 one-to-one interviews.

The full article is available from the Nature Conservancy here.

Towards a Healthier Ocean: Contributions from the Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship Program

View the full article here

From Conservation Strategy Fund:

Natalia Sanin | December 16, 2019

The Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship Program (POFP) held its second training workshop in November in Nadi, Fiji. The twelve participating Fellows met with and heard from many local and international experts on ocean finance over the five-day event. They also had the opportunity to discuss their projects with one another, lead small discussion groups, meet with their project mentors, and practice presenting their work. After the workshop, the Fellows attended and presented their projects at the Pacific Ocean Finance Conference.
 

The POFP Fellows already have deep knowledge about ocean issues in their own countries and sectors, and this fellowship program is helping them learn and apply finance solutions in practical ways. The second Fellowship workshop was a reaffirmation of the Fellows’ commitment to improving ocean health and governance in their countries. The workshop focused on themes related to the Fellows’ projects, including regional ocean agreements, national financial planning, tourism economics, community finance, marine conservation agreements, fisheries management, and business entrepreneurship. Fellows appreciated having peers from diverse backgrounds to help tackle their project challenges and give guidance on project implementation.  The workshop also provided a safe space to share experiences with and expectations of regional management of ocean resources and seascapes. 
 

“The most relevant, efficient and effective way to articulate and communicate the finance option initiatives that are available around the region.  Views and ideas shared among the fellows are an enormous help.” – Fa’aui Ekapali-Telii, Tuvalu

During the Pacific Ocean Finance Conference the following week, the Fellows presented their projects to an international audience and described their efforts to gather and analyze useful information to complement their personal and institutional efforts to improve the state of the oceans.  It became clear that the Fellows’ projects are already contributing to national and regional efforts to improve ocean health and governance. This impact is profoundly important because the Ocean represents much more than a source of resources to Pacific Islanders. The ocean is their pride, their community bond, their spiritual and ancestral connection with creation, their survival, and their responsibility.

“Despite the fact that the fellowship program will end soon, I know my project will continue on and have a positive impact on my work and the communities that I serve.”  – Emma Kabua-Tibon, Republic of the Marshall Islands
 

CSF Fellowship Coordinator Natalia Sanín reflected on her time in Fiji, “I think that the fellows have been redefining the narrative on ocean health and governance in the Pacific. And now they know what they need to do to achieve their project goals. I couldn’t be more grateful to be part of this program and to have met and worked with the POFFP Fellows, mentors, and the FFA team.” 

During the upcoming months, the Fellows will be working on their projects, conducting research, meeting with communities and stakeholders, and gathering and analyzing information with the goal of finalizing their projects in late February. Stay tuned for information about results presentations via webinar in March or April. 

For more on this program, you can read about the first workshop in the Solomon Islands, the program overview, and the Fellows’ bios. 

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 is being implemented through the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner (OPOC) in partnership with Conservation Strategy Fund (CSF), the Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA), and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

Upcoming CFA Webinar: A research and policy agenda for establishing a “Blue Fund” for the conservation and restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems in Costa Rica

Date: January 15th 2020

Time: 12pm EST

RSVP is kindly requested of all participants.

Costa Rica has ten times more marine area than terrestrial area, with a variety of marine and coastal ecosystems that provide valuable goods and services to society at many scales. Nevertheless, these ecosystems have been significantly degraded by unsustainable economic activities mainly because of the public good nature of marine and coastal ecosystem services. They are undervalued or not valued at all under current markets, and lack the appropriate institutions and mechanisms to internalize their value in order to better manage them. As a solution to this research and policy gap, the creation of the Blue Fund is proposed, a new PES scheme focused on marine and coastal ecosystems with the goal of conserving, enhancing and restoring them. To build this new scheme, a six-step process was designed.

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GoTo Meeting Call-in Information

CFA Webinar: Blue Fund in Costa Rica with Marcello Hernandez
Wed, Jan 15, 2020 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (EST)

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