Secretariat of the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) is seeking to hire consultants for the final evaluation of Project K. The job posting can be found online and the full ToR is available for download here.
The deadline for submissions is 23/4/19. The service is intended to be contracted by 15th May 2019, and the service should be implemented from May to 15th July.
On May 9th at 12pm EDT, CFA will be hosting a webinar with Blue Forest Conservation on their Forest Resilience Bond. Blue Forest Conservation is committed to creating sustainable financial solutions to pressing environmental challenges. They recently launched their first innovative finance mechanism, the Forest Resilience Bond, in partnership with the US Forest Service, the World Resources Institute, and Encourage Capital in the Tahoe National Forest in California in 2018. Instead of relying on budget-constrained government agencies, the Forest Resilience Bond deploys investor capital to finance the upfront costs of proactive forest restoration in an effort to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and associated carbon emissions as well while protecting water resources. Investors earn returns through cost-sharing contracts with the US Forest Service, utilities, and state governments that benefit from the restoration treatments. In addition to wildfire, air quality, and water benefits, the Forest Resilience Bond creates jobs, protects communities, and makes forests more resilient to climate change while offering competitive returns to investors.
Wed. 17th April 2019, 1:15-2:30pm Conference Room S-2726-2727
Organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations, this event explores the challenges and innovative approaches to meeting the challenges of mobilizing finance, including private finance, on a scale needed to halt and reverse the degradation of natural ecosystems and loss of
biodiversity of the past several decades. This is critical to achieving the sustainable development goals, yet until now investments in natural capital remain severely underfunded. A number of initiatives supported by new thinking and financial innovation are trying to address this challenge, with some success. The event will review some of the more interesting initiatives with a view to informing Ministries of Finance, multilateral and national development banks, and private financiers attending this year’s Financing for Development Forum at the United Nations. The event aims to stimulate discussion between public, private and conservation community actors on ways to mobilize larger amounts for investment in conservation of valuable ecosystems and biodiversity.
Following the 2016 World Conservation Congress, IUCN and partners launched the Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation (CPIC), which continues its work to provide substantive guidance to financial institutions on designing financial instruments which yield both attractive financial returns and significant conservation benefits. The progress of CPIC’s work will be presented, as will the experience of other conservation finance initiatives.
A key question for discussion will be: what are the key obstacles to large-scale ‘bankability’ of conservation projects and how are they being overcome. It has been suggested that the conservation finance field is still wide open to intermediaries, to project aggregators with field expertise who can respond to the substantial interest of investors by packing projects to meet size thresholds. Intermediaries are tasked with providing replicability and standardization for investors1. At the same time, there is a need for project developers on the ground who can wed the needs of local nature and local communities with the needs of global investors.
Agenda:
Opening remarks: H.E. Anne Gueguen, Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations
Moderator: David O’Connor, Permanent Observer to UN, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Standardize, Replicate and Aggregate: the Work of the Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation (CPIC)
Frank Hawkins, Head of IUCN North America Office
Financing Conservation at Scale: Perspectives from the Field
Caleb McClennen, Vice President Global Conservation, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
The Lion’s Share: Harnessing Advertising Power for Conservation Financing
Midori Paxton, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Lessons for Conservation Finance from Climate Finance
Bruce Usher, Columbia Business School
NatureVest Infrastructure and Renewable Energy Investment in Emerging Markets
JC Danilovich, Senior Director, NatureVest, The Nature Conservancy
Lessons on Getting to Scale from the Conservation Finance Alliance
David Meyers, Executive Director, Conservation Finance Alliance
Q&A and Open Discussion
For those without a UN grounds pass, please RSVP to Conor Strong (conor.strong@ext.iucn.org) with your name as printed on your government issued ID by noon Friday, 12 April 2019.
Photo credit: UN Forum Home Page
The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner (OPOC) - in partnership with Conservation Strategy Fund, the Conservation Finance Alliance and the Wildlife Conservation Society - are pleased to invite applications for the Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship Program. This fellowship program is part of the Pacific Ocean Finance Program (POFP), which is Component 3 of the Pacific Regional Oceanscape Program (PROP) - funded by the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility - and implemented through FFA and OPOC. The aim of the Pacific Ocean Finance Program is to improve the amount and efficacy of finance for Pacific Ocean governance.
The objectives of the Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship Program are to 1) increase individual capacity of Pacific Islanders by providing professional development training in ocean finance and governance, and 2) advance finance initiatives promoting ocean governance and health both within institutions and across sectors in the Pacific Islands region through a program of mentored projects in fellows’ home countries.
The 9-month fellowship program will select, train and mentor 10 outstanding fellows in order to expand the pool of people in the region knowledgeable and skilled in conservation finance and to increase positive investment decisions, business models and policies for ocean health at local and national scales. Pacific Ocean Finance Fellows will receive training, financial support and project mentorship between June 2019 and March 2020.
The deadline for applications is May 7th, 2019. Selection will be based on the eligibility and selection criteria outlined in the full announcement, available here.
A new article on Coral Reef Finance written by CFA Executive Director David Meyers is now live on Medium. The full piece is available here.
Photo credit: Sangeeta Mangubhai/WCS
The Food and Agriculture Organization is seeking a Climate Finance Specialist to work on the REDD+ team in Rome, Italy. The deadline for applications is March 15th, 2019. For further information please see the full job posting from FAO.
Asian Development Bank Seeks Environmental Economics Expert
The full ToR and further information on the position is available here.
TA 9093-REG supports increasing knowledge on the applicability of market-based approaches for environmental management (MBAEM). The TA is supporting an ongoing regional review and stocktaking on the use, applicability, and potential upscaling of MBAEM to address key environmental challenges in the region, including pollution control and prevention, watershed management, and sustainable urban development, among others. In addition to building knowledge and providing recommendations for policy options in Asia, the review will build on ongoing global efforts to document and study the use of innovative policy instruments for environmental management. A team of consultants has produced a draft stocktaking report, which has important content, but could benefit from augmentation and revision. The draft covers market based instruments applied to air pollution, for water management/pollution, and for waste, as well as market based instrument concepts and policy recommendations for improvements. An international consultant with expertise in environmental economics will be engaged to provide substantive technical and editorial inputs to the stocktaking report and fill gaps in content. The consultant will work with an international team of experts, who are providing technical inputs on global and regional experiences and applications of MBAEM. The consultant will also work with a data and information specialist, who will support preparation of an inventory of selected national programs and policies applying MBAEM, which will serve as inputs to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Policy Instruments for the Environment (PINE) database.
Birdlife looking for a trainer/presenter to run a session on sustainable landscape business planning in a workshop they are hosting in the first week of April. Please circulate within your networks!
This is part of BirdLife Forest Programme’s new initiative called the Forest Landscape Sustainability Accelerator, supported through the Trillion Trees partnership. Through this mechanism, they are delivering a direct, multi-faceted programme of support, to address the specific challenges BirdLife Partners face in accessing sustainable financing and funding for priority forest landscapes.
The Accelerator workshop is running 1-5th April, at the Cambridge Conservation Initiative hub in the David Attenborough Building. It aims to build the capacity for sustainable funding and financing of a group of approx. 20 staff from 10 different BirdLife Partners working on large-scale tropical forest landscape programmes.
They are looking for an individual or a group of presenters and facilitators for a session focused on landscape business and financial planning, which will be held on Friday 5th April running between 9:00 – 13.30.
Please note that unfortunately they are only able to cover travel for those coming from within the UK.
If this is of interest, please find the details of this opportunity attached.
This survey is designed to better understand the knowledge and capacity development needs of the broad conservation community with regards to protected area finance. The results will help to inform the work of the Conservation Finance Alliance Working Group on Protected Areas Finance, and through the CFA, it will be used to inform the wider community of protected area finance practitioners.
Protected area finance may be defined as “the ability to secure stable and sufficient long-term financial resources, and to allocate them in a timely manner and appropriate form, to cover the full costs of protected areas (direct and indirect) and to ensure that PAs are managed effectively and efficiently” (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2005).
The survey is designed for conservation practitioners that work in protected areas or on protected area issues. It should take approximately 15 minutes to complete and the information you provide will be held in strict confidence. Only aggregate results will be shared.
The survey is available in three languages: English, French, and Spanish. We would greatly appreciate your participation. Please use the buttons below or visit the CFA site to proceed to the survey in your preferred language.
This past December several CFA members released a paper on Finance Tools for Coral Reef Conservation. The paper is available for download below, and information from the webinar held about the paper in January 2019 is available on the webinars page.
Download: Finance Tools for Coral Reef Conservation: A Guide
Coral reefs are critical ecosystems that are home to more than 25% of all known marine species, while occupying less than one quarter of 1% of the Earth’s marine environment (IUCN, 2013). In June 2018, the 50 Reefs initiative culminated with the publication of a scientific study on coral reefs that are least vulnerable to climate change and have the greatest capacity to repopulate other reefs over time. To contibute to 50 Reefs, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) worked in conjunction with the Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) to create a working guide on the financial tools available for coral reef conservation. Financial tools are a means of securing reliable funding for conservation activities such as creating new protected areas, restoring ecosystems, and promoting sustainable tourism or aligning incentives of actors to improve conservation outcomes. This guide is intended to serve as a reference and resource for protected area managers and other professionals charged with achieving conservation and protection of coral reefs, and ensuring adequate financial means to do so.
Author(s): Venkat Iyer, Katy Mathias, David Meyers, Ray Victurine, & Melissa Walsh
December 2018
Photo credit: HANNES KLOSTERMANN / CORAL REEF IMAGE BANK
