Note from the Executive Director

Members and Partners of the Conservation Finance Alliance,
 
It is a great pleasure and an honor to address you as the first Executive Director of the CFA.  As someone who has worked in this field for many years, I have greatly benefited from the rich array of resources the CFA has developed and made available over the years and if you are reading this note, I imagine you have as well.  This wealth of knowledge on the CFA website – searchable published and grey literature resources, the Environmental Funds Toolkit – and in targeted publications such as the CTF Practice Standards, Conservation Trust Fund Investment Surveys, CFA’s webinar series, and at various meetings, trainings and workshops held at global and regional conferences – provides essential nutrients to the growing ecosystem of global conservation finance practitioners.  As members and partners of the CFA, you are the source of this knowledge and information and hopefully the beneficiary of these efforts as well.
 
I have begun reaching out to partners and members to gather background information and to harness your insights into how the CFA can optimize its historical assets and advance our shared objectives.  A more formal process will be developed shortly and we will organize an online “general assembly” to share recent developments and collaboratively plan a path forward.  Please stay tuned for upcoming announcements and communications.
 
Warm Regards,

David Meyers
Executive Director, CFA

New Report on Innovation for Coral Finance

The 2018 International Year of the Reef is an opportunity for the world’s media to highlight the many threats faced by coral ecosystems and the need to protect them. One of the main challenges faced when implementing coral conservation activities is the financing of it; the funds currently needed to achieve effective and lasting conservation greatly exceed the available funds, generating a substantial financing gap.

To explore ways of reducing this gap, the International Coral Reef Initiative releases a study of opportunities offered by innovative financing mechanisms for coral conservation. The seven most promising notions are presented. The report prompts for more integrated models, notably using a business-model approach. It introduces four example business models addressing specific coral-context challenges and how they can be used by local conservationists and decision-makers as a tool to make coral conservation sustainable. These examples are paving the way for dozens of customised coral business models still to be designed. We hope this first report will help renew the approach of coral finance.

The report is available here for download.

WWF Switzerland Seeks Head of Impact Venture Initiative

At WWF Switzerland, 220 employees and more than 3,000 volunteers work together to protect nature and the environment. They pursue the WWF’s goals of maintaining biodiversity, using our resources sustainably and promoting environmentally friendly lifestyles. A few years ago, we began a pilot initiative within the international WWF network to promote ventures in the environmental sector. Our aims included making conservation more effective and promoting the setup of self-financed initiatives that create added value for the local population in biodiversity hotspots. The next step is now to scale up this initiative and establish relevant processes. To meet this challenge, they are looking for a new Head of Impact Venture Initiative.

For further information on this position as well as how to apply please see the announcement here.

UNDP Green Commodities Programme Career Opportunity

UNDPs Green Commodities Programme (GCP) has opened a call for experts to apply to join their roster of experts for the potential to support projects in our growing portfolio of commodity projects.  Highly qualified candidates are encouraged to apply and all members are welcome to share this announcements with their colleagues.

The link to apply for the Green Commodities Programme Expert Roster (called the Establishment of a Pre-Approved Roster on Sustainable Agricultural Commodities) is available here.

Closing date for applications is May 7th  2018.

Request for Proposals: Roster of Pre-Qualified vendors for the Provision of Technical Support Services to Carry out Targeted Scenario Analyses for UNDP

The objective of the Request For Proposals is to establish a Roster of Pre-Qualified vendors for the provision of technical support and advisory services related to carrying out the Targeted Scenario Analyses (TSA). TSA is an innovative analytical approach, developed by UNDP, that captures and presents the value of ecosystem services in a way that is more relevant to the choices facing a public or private decision maker. You can find full details of the TSA approach in the English version of the guide that can be downloaded here. 

These Service Providers will need to be able to assemble a team of specialists with appropriate skill sets and experiences to assist UNDP in carrying out the TSA’s in a range of countries around the world, on an ‘as-needed’ basis. Further information, including how to apply, is available here. Application deadline is April 27th, 2018.

BIOFIN Webinar - Privately Protected Areas: A finance solution for private sector engagement in conservation

This April 23rd, at 9:00am EST, BIOFIN will host a webinar discussing Privately Protected Areas as a solution for private sector engagement in conservation. Through attendance in this webinar, participants will be able to understand what a PPA is, how it leverages private sector investment into biodiversity conservation, in which contexts it can be implemented, and how to build a successful model of PPA.

A full description of the webinar is available here, and for registration please click the button below.

Economic Tools for Conservation Course in Berkeley, CA

Recruitment for Conservation Strategy Fund’s annual International Economic Tools for Conservation course is in full swing. This year's course will be held July 2-13, 2018 at the University of California Berkeley.

The course announcement and application form can be found on Conservation Strategy Fund's website. 

You can find the course brochure here. Please contact our secretariat if you have any questions and we will pass them along to CSF.

M2PA and David Meyers Participate in Monaco Ocean Week

The Association for the Sustainable Financing of Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas – or M2PA for short – held a series of related events on Friday April 13th at Monaco Ocean Week with the participation of the CFA’s new Executive Director, David Meyers.  The main goal of the M2PA association is to establish a Conservation Trust Fund to provide targeted financing for Mediterranean protected areas with an initial focus on projects in Morocco, Tunisia and Albania. The Mediterranean has over 1000 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) but is in need of increased investment in the creation of new MPAs and in improved management and sustainable financing for many existing reserves.  It is hoped that the M2PA will succeed in becoming a strong advocate, source of financing, and fountain of knowledge for these important MPAs. 

The first conference event was a series of panels and presentations on Conservation Trust Funds with an initial talk and session moderation by the CFA.  Conservation Trust Fund experiences and best practices were shared by a range of CTFs and partners including BaCoMAB, PONT, MarFund, and RedLAC.  Other partner organizations presenting included CI’s Global Conservation Fund, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM), Agence Français de Développement (AFD), MAVA, MedPAN, and others.  The session was followed by the signing of the FFEM grant agreement with the Prince Albert II Foundation for the M2PA project.  The afternoon session was the launch of the GEF financed part of the project (with support of CI-GEF) and was followed by an evening session where 12 museums and aquariums showed their engagement in the project.  The Monaco Oceanographic Institute pledged a percentage of their entrance fees for the aquarium to the M2PA.

More information on the workshops is available here.

David Meyers to Become CFA Executive Director

The Executive Committee of the Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) is pleased to announce that David Meyers will become the Executive Director of the CFA, effective April 13, 2018.
 
David comes to the CFA from the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) at UNDP, where he served as a senior technical advisor for the BIOFIN process in 14 countries and lead on the global BIOFIN methodology.
 
“David’s first-hand experience in the practice of conservation finance, combined with his professional relationships with so many CFA members and his own experience as a long-term CFA member, make him an ideal leader for the next phase of the CFA,” said Sylvie Goyet of the Executive Committee.
 
In prior roles, David has been consultant on various conservation finance, ecology, economic and environmental projects and initiatives, an entrepreneur in environmental ventures, and a lecturer at both Yale and Columbia Universities. David earned his Bachelors and Doctorate degrees from Duke University and his MBA from the Yale School of Management.
 
“I have greatly benefitted from the resources and network of the CFA since the early 2000’s and am honored to have the opportunity to lead the organization in this exciting phase,” said Dr. Meyers.
 
Currently based on the East Coast of the United States, David has lived for extended periods in both Europe and Madagascar.
 
David will step into the Executive Director role on April 13. Through September 30, 2018, he will be working half-time while wrapping up existing commitments to UNDP-BIOFIN; starting October 1 he will be leading the CFA full-time. During the transition period, Katy Mathias will continue to support the CFA Secretariat to ensure continuity in CFA projects and administration.

Blue Finance - New PPP Signed in the Dominican Republic

An innovative Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement for marine conservation was signed on February 23rd 2018 in the Dominican Republic. The agreement, facilitated by Blue finance, defines the co-management of 8000km2 of the Marine Sanctuary “Arrecifes del Sureste" between the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and a non-profit consortium/co-management body; comprised of local and international NGOs, private sector organisations, and the NGO Blue finance, among others.

See the full press release here.

*Text provided by Blue Finance