Webinar: An Introduction to Business Planning for Protected Areas

The NOAA National MPA Center, the EBM Tools Network co-coordinated by NatureServe and OCTO, and MPA News are pleased to announce that they will host a webinar on: An Introduction to Business Planning for Protected Areas with Andrew Rylance, Technical Advisor to the GOS-United Nations Development Programme - Global Environment Facility. 

Presenter: Andrew Rylance is the Technical Advisor to the Government of Seychelles-United Nations Development Programme-Global Environment Facility (GOS-UNDP-GEF) Protected Area Financing Project (2016-2021). 

Description: A workshop on business planning was recently held to support the financial future of protected areas in Seychelles. Outputs developed under this project have global application. This presentation will outline the importance of business planning for protected areas and how business plans can be used as tools to leverage financial support for conservation management. The presentation will also provide an introduction to the components of business plans and a database of protected area business plans where users can access over 45 examples of protected area business plans and guidelines. 

The presentation will be on Thursday Nov. 9, at 1 pm US EST/10 am US PST/6 pm UTC. 

Register at:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5824376261725463298

Upcoming SCCM Webinar

CFA webinars return October 24th with a presentation on the Sustainable Commodities Compensation Mechanism by Lestari Capital. CFA member Michal Zrust will be presenting with an introduction by Sylvie Goyet, a member of our Executive Committee. The webinar will take place October 24th at 9am EDT (New York City).

For those of you who are planning to attend, more information on the webinar as well as the GoTo meeting information can be found on the website.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on the SCCM and are excited to once again be hosting webinars!

Last Chance to Register for Workshop at RedLAC Assembly

For those attending the upcoming RedLAC Assembly in Punta Cana, this is your last chance to register for the Investment Management Principles and Practices Workshop being held October 28th-30th. This 2.5-day workshop will focus on fundamentals in investment management and will be offered exclusively to Trustees, Board members, senior and financial staff of Conservation Trust Funds and Environmental Funds.

Registration submissions will be accepted until this Friday, October 20th. You can register here and find more information on the workshop on our website.

Conservation Finance Alliance Receives Major Funding Award from FFEM and MAVA Foundation

The Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) is excited to announce today that the French Facility for Global Environment / Fonds Français pour l'Environnement Mondial (FFEM) and the MAVA Foundation have jointly awarded 701,114 Euros (822,315 USD) to support CFA.
 
The CFA network is supported by generous financial and in-kind contributions from its members. FFEM and MAVA will jointly fund the next stage of CFA.  Both organizations are CFA members and have a long history of working to combat the world’s environmental challenges, as well as an enduring commitment to biodiversity conservation.
 
 “The CFA members are a dynamic group, and the network needed to grow and evolve to meet the members’ needs for outreach, knowledge sharing, and collaboration,” said Sylvie Goyet, member of the CFA Executive Committee. “We’re excited by the opportunities that the FFEM and MAVA funding will make possible.” 
 
Among the targeted uses for the funding, CFA will hire its first full-time Executive Director and a small staff to support programming and membership. It will build the network's capacity for administration and fundraising, and assess approaches to knowledge management and sharing to further support collaboration and cross-pollination among members. Additionally, CFA plans to create an Innovative Financing Mechanisms “Incubator” to enable members to develop new approaches to sustainable financing for conservation and protected areas.
 
“We are honored to host CFA and to be managing this generous donation made by FFEM and the MAVA Foundation,” said WCS Executive Vice President for Conservation and Science John Robinson. “This critical funding will be used to take CFA to the next level in promoting sustainable funding solutions for protected areas and the world’s biodiversity.” WCS is a co-founder of the CFA and currently serves as its host.
 
The CFA has several immediate projects underway and planned. Presently, CFA is updating a comprehensive resource guide on sustainable financing mechanisms in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme's BIOFIN program, a CFA member. It is also launching a workshop on investment management for Conservation Trust Funds in association with the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Environmental Funds (RedLAC), and renewing a series of knowledge-sharing webinars offered by members.
 

Conservation Finance Alliance Dinner at the RedLAC Assembly

For those members of CFA who are planning to attend the RedLAC Assembly in Punta Cana, DR, we hope you will join Executive Committee members Lorenzo Rosenzweig and John Adams, along with Katy Mathias from the Secretariat, for an informal dinner and discussion on Wednesday, 1 November. This will be an opportunity for a collaborative discussion and networking among members. Location and time to be announced. Please RSVP to let us know if you are interested.  

CFA Webinar on SCCM Rescheduled

Due to timing issues we are rescheduling the webinar on the Sustainable Commodities Compensation Mechanism in the hopes that a greater number of you are able to attend. The new date and time will be October 24th, 9am Eastern Time. 

Login information for the GoTo meeting is included below and will also be available on the website alongside a short form to RSVP. We would appreciate if you would take the time to fill this out to give us an idea of how many attendees to be expecting for the new date. We look forward to speaking with you soon!

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CFA Webinar: Sustainable Commodities Compensation Mechanism
Tue, Oct 24, 2017 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM EDT

Please join my meeting at the time of the session from your computer, tablet or smartphone. 
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/167275941

You can also dial in using your phone. 
United States: +1 (571) 317-3129 

Access Code: 167-275-941

More phone numbers
Australia: +61 2 9087 3604 
France: +33 170 950 594
Germany: +49 692 5736 7317 
New Zealand: +64 9 280 6302 
Switzerland: +41 225 4599 78

Joining from a video-conferencing room or system? 
Dial: 67.217.95.2##167275941
Cisco devices: 167275941@67.217.95.2 

First GoToMeeting? Try a test session: http://link.gotomeeting.com/email-welcome 

Webinar Series: Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services in Research, Policy, and Practice

Thinking in terms of ecosystem services and natural capital explicitly acknowledges our dependence on nature, and therefore the need to better protect and manage natural resources. For this reason these concepts have been adopted by policy, but the use of the concepts in practice is still in its infancy. Working across 27 organisations over a five year period, the OPERAs project has explored how and under what conditions these concepts can move beyond the academic domain towards practical implementation in support of sustainable ecosystem management.

A series of webinars are scheduled to take place focusing on 6 aspects the OPERAs project explored. Each webinar will highlight the flow between knowledge, tools and practice through case material from the OPERAs exemplars and different tools. There will also be an opportunity to ask the OPERAs experts questions at the end of each webinar and the debate will continue on Oppla.

Further information on OPERAs as well as the individual webinars can be found on their website as well as on this flyer. While the first webinar in the series was held this last week, there are five more sessions to be held over the next month. To register please fill out the form here.

IUCN Incubator for Nature Conservation

The IUCN has worked to set up an incubator for nature conservation to provide technical expertise, guidance, advice and resources to protected areas seeking to improve their business model and achieve financial sustainability. More information can be found on the flyer below as well as on their website. If you have any questions or would be interested in contributing as a partner, please send an email to financeincubator@iucn.org.

Lestari Capital Webinar

Lestari Capital and its first product, The Sustainable Commodities Compensation Mechanism (SCCM) unlocks market-linked finance to conserve and rehabilitate the world’s most at-risk landscapes. Lestari Capital engineers solutions for leading agro-commodities, transportation and energy companies, leveraging the same market forces that drive revenues in these sectors to provide new investment capital for environmental initiatives.

Working together closely with industry sustainability organizations, Lestari Capital develops market mechanisms that help individual companies meet their commitments for certification and membership. Instead of a project-centric approach, Lestari Capital addresses the other half of the equation by driving and aggregating new demand for conservation, ecosystem services and greenhouse gas emission reductions.

On September 26th, Lestari Capital will be hosting a webinar to open discussion on SCCM with CFA members. Registration will open in a few days and a follow up email will be sent out to our network with the information necessary to join in.

More information on Lestari Capital is available here, and, if you would like to learn more about SCCM a fact sheet is available for download.

International Marine Protected Areas Congress

This coming September, the 4th International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC4) will be held in La Serena-Coquimbo, Chile. With the motto, Marine Protected Areas: Bringing the People and Ocean Together, IMPAC4 "will focus on the need to highlight the intricate nature of ocean-human relationship and the benefits of marine protected areas and the ocean for millions that depends on their ecosystem services."* At the Congress the CFA will be involved in several presentations regarding Conservation Finance. A summary of these events, put together by Sylvie Goyet, can be downloaded here. This summary will continue to be updated and shared on our website. 

For you members that are lucky enough to be attending and/or presenting we would love to help keep you updated and connected before and during the Congress. By filling out the form through our website we can add you to an email list and share your contact information with one another before you head to Chile.

           *taken from IMPAC4 website