Save the date: Circular economy webinar with Fenix Outdoor International, MAFH and WBCSD

Delivering a circular economy and eliminating waste is a big issue facing many industries. Increased pressure is forcing companies to look across the life cycle of all their products, to reduce impacts and increase the recyclability of products, from the start – the design stage. 

Ethical Corporation will host a one-hour webinar with three senior leaders sharing their practical ideas on how innovative businesses are implementing circularity across all business operations. 

Click here to register for the webinar now.

Save the date and join us on Wednesday 19th February at 12:00GMT / 13:00 CET for our free online webinar with: 

Speakers include: 

• Ibrahim Al Zubi, Chief Sustainability Officer, MAFH – Sustainability

• Aiko Bode, Chief Sustainability and Chief Compliance Officer, Fenix Outdoor International

Moderated by Brendan Edgerton, Director, Circular Economy, WBCSD

Key areas of discussion include: 

• How instil a circular approach within R&D and design stage

• How to make the business case for your company to embrace a circular approach

• How to attribute accounting values to investments & implementation of circular operations

• How to measure your progress towards delivering a circular economy

Join us on 19th February and be part of the discussion. Simply click here to be part of the webinar discussion 

If you can’t make the time, no problem. Just register and we will send you the webinar recordings afterwards.

Photo from Conscious Connection 

What We're Reading: Progress in natural capital accounting for ecosystems

From ScienceMag:

“Reversing the ongoing degradation of the planet’s ecosystems requires timely and detailed monitoring of ecosystem change and uses. Yet, the System of National Accounts (SNA), first developed in response to the economic crisis of the 1930s and used by statistical offices worldwide to record economic activity (for example, production, consumption, and asset accumulation), does not make explicit either inputs from the environment to the economy or the cost of environmental degradation. Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (EEA), part of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA), has been developed to monitor and report on ecosystem change and use, using the same accounting approach, concepts, and classifications as the SNA. The EEA is part of the statistical community’s response to move SNA measurement “beyond gross domestic product (GDP).” With the first generation of ecosystem accounts now published in 24 countries, and with a push to finalize a United Nations (UN) statistical standard for ecosystem accounting by 2021, we highlight key advances, challenges, and opportunities.”

The full article is available for download here.

What We're Reading: Conserving mangroves, a lifeline for the world

From Apple

“Through Apple’s Earth Day 2018 Give Back campaign, the company has partnered with Conservation International to protect a 27,000 acre mangrove forest in Cispatá Bay on the Caribbean coast of Colombia.”

The full article is available in the Apple Newsroom.

What We're Reading: Mainstreaming Blue Carbon to Finance Coastal Resilience

From the Conservation Finance Network

“The contribution of marine and coastal ecosystems in carbon sequestration, or “blue carbon,” has only recently begun to gain traction in market-based ecosystem management discussions.

At present, existing methods of measuring and monitoring carbon offsets are geared towards terrestrial ecosystems, and do not account for the carbon stored in coastal, marine or wetland soils and biomass.

There are a number of mechanisms in place to facilitate investment  in terrestrial carbon through regulatory markets which could be adapted to include blue carbon.”

The full article is available on the Conservation Finance Network website.

What We're Reading - Nature Risk Rising: Why the Crisis Engulfing Nature Matters for Business and the Economy

From World Economic Forum:

“It is not surprising that the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Risks Report (GRR), through its comprehensive risks perception survey, ranks biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as one of the top five risks in terms of likelihood and impact in the coming 10 years. Yet general confusion persists on what amount of nature loss has occurred, why it relates to human prosperity and how to confront its loss in a practical manner, especially in the business world. Following on the heels of the 2020 GRR, this report provides a deep dive into how nature loss is material to businesses in all industry sectors and makes a clear argument for nature-related risks to be regularly identified, assessed and disclosed by business – as is now increasingly the case for climate change risks. This will help prevent risk mispricing and inaccurate capital buffers, as well as guiding action to mitigate and adapt business activities that degrade and destroy nature.”

The full article is available here.

Conservation Strategy Fund Offering NUMBERS for NATURE: Economics & Finance for Environmental Leadership Course

Conservation Strategy Fund in collaboration with CFA is offering a one-week version of our flagship two-week international training course in Washington DC this summer.

I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity and spread the word to folks who would like a greater degree of literacy in conservation economics. After taking this course, participants will understand how, with the proper use of economic tools, we can achieve better outcomes for nature AND people.

This sought after course will be held from July 13-17, and will include other professionals from around the world. 

More information is available at this link or on this downloadable flyer.

The MedFund is issuing a Request for Proposals to develop its 5-year resource mobilization strategy

The MedFund is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to develop its 5-year resource mobilization strategy.

The RFP and Terms of reference contain all the necessary information for interested Offerors.

Consulting firms, Consultants, must send their bids via email to contact@themedfund.org by February 28th 2020 by midnight (CET time).

Fauna & Flora International Seeking Temporary Director of Conservation Finance and Enterprise

Start Date: 1 April 2020 or as soon as possible thereafter

Contract Type: This is a temporary position to provide parental leave cover and will terminate on or before 16 April 2021 on the return of the Director, Conservation Finance & Enterprise from parental leave.

Location: Fauna & Flora International, Cambridge, UK

FFI is seeking a Director to lead the operational management, implementation and development of FFI’s Conservation Finance & Enterprise programme.

Further information is available here on the F&F website.

The closing date for applications is Wednesday, 5 February 2020.

Call for Small Projects from MedPAN

MedPAN has launched a Call for Small Projects to support the actions led in Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Mediterranean. The Call for Small Projects aims to reinforce MPA management. Please note that the call has specific eligibility rules. You'll find all the details below.

The MedPAN Calls for Small Project is open to:

• Organisations that are in charge of the management of MPAs;

• Other organisations (NGOs, private companies, scientific institutions, etc.) working with authorities that are responsible for the management of Mediterranean MPAs.

The Call targets co-management approaches for MPAs.

The call is only open to the following six countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Turkey and Albania.

The MPA management authorities and the organisations who wish to participate will need to send the Grant Application Form to the MedPAN Secretariat before February 5, 2020.

You will find all the details regarding participation eligibility, the type of projects that are required and the selection process in the Rules document of the thematic Call for Small Projects.

To submit a grant request:

1. Carefully read the Rules and assess whether your structure and project are eligible.
   Download the Rules of the thematic Call for Small Projects on MPA co-management approaches.

2. Fill in the Grant Application Form.
   Download the Grant Application Form.

3. Send it with all the necessary documents to projet@medpan.org by February 5, 2020 midnight.

Don't hesitate to contact us for any question about this Call for Small Projects.

This Call for Small Projects is made possible through the support of the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) Seeking Communication and Membership Assistant

Communication and Membership Assistant for the Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA)

Washington DC

Temporary/Seasonal

GLOBAL CONSERVATION

Job Description

Reporting: reporting to David Meyers, Executive Director, CFA

Objectives: The CFA Communication and Membership Assistant is essential to ensure effective communication among members of the Conservation Finance Alliance and the CFA Secretariat, specifically in support of CFA programs and membership outreach. This role is critical to help with information sharing and logistical support for the CFA Secretariat.

Principal Responsibilities:

• Developing, writing and sending CFA’s monthly newsletter to the members and newsletter recipients; actively soliciting news items from members for inclusion, and updating the CFA website and CFA’s social media accounts with newsletter elements. 

• Monitoring the CFA Secretariat email account and responding to member emails or forwarding communications to appropriate CFA Working Group Chairs, Secretariat and Executive Committee members

• Maintaining and updating the member database, including adding new members

• Maintaining and upgrading the CFA websites including conservationfinancealliance.org (includes cfalliance.org), and conservationfinance.info:

  • Updating the websites content including the library, tool kits, conservation finance guide, and more as requested by the CFA Executive Director, Working Group Chairs and CFA Secretariat.

  • Updating the news section, events calendar, experts database, and other sections on a regular basis.

  • Updating and creating new web pages or websites as requested by the Executive Director.

  • Remaining in regular contact with the Executive Secretariats of RedLAC, CAFÉ and APNET as well as the Conservation Finance Network to identify content-sharing and cross-posting opportunities

• Scheduling, organizing and providing logistical and technical support for webinars including assuring that presenters are comfortable with the technology and have shared presentations with the webinar host (Secretariat). Recording and posting all webinars online.

• Supporting CFA task forces and Working Groups including but not limited to: establish and maintain list servers, scheduling meetings, sending meeting announcements, recording meeting, taking notes during calls, and disbursing meeting minutes following review from CFA Secretariat.

• Reaching out to members and partners to solicit topics for knowledge sharing including documents, publications, relevant webinars, conferences, and more.

• Schedule and assure logistics and communications for quarterly Executive Committee virtual meetings including preparing minutes from meetings

• Schedule and assure logistics and communications for semi-annual Steering Committee virtual meetings including preparing minutes from meetings.

Qualification/Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree, strong research and writing skills a must

• Previous social media and website experience and ability to communicate well with a globally-located, culturally-diverse team desirable

• Understanding and familiarity with biodiversity conservation implementation and policy a plus

• Detail-oriented with excellent organizational skills, including responsiveness to multiple, simultaneous projects and demands; ability to set and follow priorities and meet deadlines

• Ability to work independently and without daily instruction and monitoring 

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite of products, particularly Excel, Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint

• Additional skills - Website creation and management (experience with Squarespace preferred), email communications tools including MailChimp.

To apply see the Jobs pages at WCS and search for Communication and Membership Assistant.