Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) is proud to introduce the 10 outstanding projects selected for Round 3 of the CFA Incubator — a program that identifies, supports, and promotes innovative solutions to conservation finance challenges with high-impact potential.
After a rigorous three-stage review process involving expert judges from leading conservation and finance institutions, we are thrilled to welcome ten projects to our 2025 cohort. Five projects will receive grants of $25,000, while all projects will benefit from mentorship, technical assistance, and global exposure through CFA’s network. This third round of the CFA Incubator is being supported by the Nature Transformation Fund run by Milkywire, in collaboration with Klarna.
Selected for Grant Funding and Incubation
The Salmon Impact Bond. A nature bond model supporting Indigenous-led salmon habitat restoration and community development in Wuikinuxv territory. Team: Eddy Adra, Tamara Isaak, Ross Dixon, Audrey Popa, Coast Funds, Canada; Danielle Shaw, Andra Forney, Wuikinuxv First Nation.
ABC BirdsPlus Index. Developing a business strategy for the BirdPlus Index, a biodiversity monitoring tool leveraging bird sound recognition and AI to measure biodiversity and ecosystem health. Team: Corey Martignetti, Holly Robertson, and Eliot Miller, American Bird Conservancy, USA.
Finance for incentive-based marine conservation in small-scale fisheries. Establishing and scaling sustainable finance to conserve marine megafauna (e.g., sharks, rays, turtles) through expanding a unique incentive-based program that delivers positive outcomes for biodiversity and people in coastal communities. Lead: Hollie Booth, University Of Oxford & Kebersamaan Untuk Lautanuk, Indonesia/UK.
Global Green Visa. Developing a national-level tourism levy linked to an impact bond to finance nature conservation. Team: Bhalin Singh and Peter Jipp, Prajna Ventures, Rwanda/Luxembourg.
Finance for Small Scale Fisheries in Africa. Innovative provision of technical assistance and microcredits to support positive outcomes for biodiversity and people in coastal communities in Africa. Team: Camille Richer, BlueMove; Thomas Binet, BlueSeeds, Tunisia & Senegal.
Selected for Incubation
Karukinka’s Impact Bond. Finance for peatland and forest protection in Karukinka Natural Park, Patagonia, through an outcome-based bond. Team: Melissa Carmody Lobo and Cristóbal Arredondo, WCS, Chile.
Caribbean Debt Conversion. Exploring a debt conversion to unlock sustainable conservation finance in Cuba. Team: Fernando Bretos & Jim Tolisano, Cresta Coastal Network; Mark J. Spalding, the Ocean Foundation; Ulises Fernandez, CITMA, Cuba.
Finance solutions for sustainable scallop fisheries. Developing metrics and an associated finance system to transform scallop fisheries. Lead. Tom Hooper, Fishtek Marine LTD, UK.
Mitsiry Biodiversity and Climate Trust Fund. Leveraging blended finance and technical assistance to grow biodiversity-focused small and medium-sized enterprises. Team: Koloina Ramaromandray, Lea Meleard & Emmanuel Cotsoyannis, Mirakap; Madagascar and Eastern & Southern Africa.
Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCA) Infrastructure Impact Bond – A scalable approach to fund infrastructure in TFCAs. Lead: Onkemetse Nteta, IUCN, South Africa.
These projects showcase bold thinking where finance meets nature. Through approaches such as bonds, trust funds, credits, AI applications, and blended finance, they’re working to deliver tangible conservation outcomes and long-term sustainability. Together, they reflect the growing momentum in conservation finance, and we look forward to championing their progress and sharing their insights with our broader global network in the year ahead.
The Incubation period will run from May through February 2026, offering tailored support and mentorship to advance these ideas towards implementation. The CFA Incubator will hold a series of webinars presenting these ideas over the course of the incubation and will host presentations at global conferences.
This year’s open call for proposals attracted 73 applications from 37 countries, reflecting a global interest in conservation finance innovation. Proposals were received from every major region: Africa had the most submissions, followed by Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, Europe, the Pacific, and the Middle East. Approximately 25% of proposals were led by women, and over 40% of teams included women in key roles, signaling encouraging trends in inclusion and diversity across the sector.