Driving Innovation in Conservation Finance: Elevator Pitches

September 7th

Session Description

Innovation in Conservation Finance has been in the minds of conservation and development officers worldwide. Financial sustainability is one of the core challenges many non-profit Executive Directors and Development Officers face every day. Adequate, reliable, and long-term cash flow for administrative, operative and project expenses is vital for any institution.
Over the years funding for conservation has evolved and diversified at great speed. Traditional sources for both endowment and project funds, such as bilateral and multilateral agencies and private foundations has been complemented by non-traditional sources but is still the backbone of every sound capital or project campaigns. Conservation Trust Funds have been particularly active in exploring non-conventional sources. In this panel we will explore many innovations that have been put in practice in México, Mesoamerica and other parts of the world.

Speakers and Panelists

Lorenzo Rosenzweig
Former Director General, Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature
Link to bio

Manuel Piñuela
Co-Founder & CEO, Cultivo
Dr Manuel Piñuela is a nature advocate, technology and science entrepreneur, and MIT Technology Review Innovator of the Year under 35. He is Co-founder of Cultivo, Drayson Tech. and SENS.L.

Adriana Martinez
CEO/Founder - MYCELLIUM
Adriana María was born in Mexico City in 1979. She is a Mexican gallerist and entrepreneur that has developed innovative exhibition concepts that deliver art to unexpected places, creating new modeles of investment and appreciation.

Rosario Alvarez
Executive Director, Pronatura Noreste
Rosario Alvarez has dedicated her professional life to protect key landscapes and endangered species across Latin America. She has hold leadership positions on various major nonprofit organizations. Currently she heads Pronatura Noreste a regional NGO based in Northern Mexico.

María José Gonzalez
Executive Director, Mesoamerican Reef Fund
María José González is a wildlife biologist that has worked in conservation trust funds since 1996. She led the Guatemalan Fund –FCG– for eight years and has been the executive director of the MAR Fund since 2005. MAR Fund is a regional environmental fund established to support conservation, restoration and sustainable use of resources in the Mesoamerican Reef ecoregion, shared by Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.