Conservation International Establishes Ecuador Azul Endowment Fund to Strengthen Ecuador’s Marine Protected Areas

Story from Conservation International

​Arlington, Va. (March 29, 2019) – Conservation International today announced the Ecuador Azul fund, a $6 million endowment fund supporting the conservation, management, and long-term sustainability of Ecuador's marine protected areas (MPAs).

Ecuador Azul will initially fund five MPAs spanning nearly 200,000 hectares (494,211 acres) of diverse marine, coastal, and estuarine ecosystems that comprise Ecuador's Marine and Coastal Protected Areas Network. The five MPAS include: Galera-San Francisco Marine Reserve, Pacoche Marine Coastal Wildlife Refuge, Machalilla National Park, Puntilla Santa Elena Marine Coastal Fauna Production Reserve, and Manglares El Morro Wildlife Refuge. These areas contain a range of biodiversity, from the world's largest cluster of manta rays to one of the most extensive mangrove areas along the Pacific coast. 

For further details on the Ecuador Azul Fund please see the full story on the Conservation International Website.

Photo credit: The Coral Reef Image Bank / The Ocean Agency

BIOFIN - #KeepThemWild: Corporate Social Responsibility Program fundraiser held in the Philippines

Story from BIOFIN:

Quezon City, Philippines (13 April 2019) – To raise funds for the refurbishment of homes for confiscated illegally-traded and surrendered wildlife, BIOFIN Philippines together with the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Faber-Castell, Wildlife Rescue Center (WRC) of Biodiversity Management Bureau, Haribon Foundation and the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center organized a fund-raising event called #KeepThemWild.  It served as an eye-opener and a learning activity that provided artistic inspiration to participants in painting their own canvas tote bags to shed light on the state of wildlife at the WRC and raise funds for their maintenance.

For more information on this innovative fundraising effort please see the full story on the BIOFIN website.

Photo sources from story on BIOFIN site.

Final Opportunity to Apply for the Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship Program

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 expand the number of countries eligible to apply for the Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship. The goal of the fellowship program is to strengthen Pacific regional capacity in financing for improved ocean governance and health. 

Citizens or permanent residents of Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, Tokelau, Papua New Guinea, and Niue, and Vanuatu are eligible. The fellowship program will select up to 15 fellows for this first cohort.

This fellowship is partially funded through the Pacific Ocean Finance Program, which is Component 3 of the Pacific Regional Oceanscape Program (PROP) - funded by World Bank and 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.

FFA and OPOC will provide funding for successful applicants from non-World Bank member countries (Cook Islands, Tokelau, Papua New Guinea, and Niue.)

The deadline to apply is May 10th, 2019. Click here for more information. 

Questions? Contact pacificfinancefellows@conservation-strategy.org.

What We're Reading: Biodiversity: Finance and the Economic and Business Case for Action

The Convention on Biological Diversity’s 15th Conference of the Parties (CBD COP15) in 2020 marks a critical juncture for one of the defining global challenges of our time: the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem service.

This new OECD report sets the economic and business case for urgent and ambitious action on biodiversity. It presents an assessment of biodiversity-related finance flows, and discusses the key data and indicator gaps that need to be addressed to underpin monitoring of both the pressures on biodiversity and the actions being implemented.

Read the Full Report Here

Internship Opportunity with CFA

The CFA is seeking an intern for a Technical Assistant position beginning June 1st, 2019. The CFA Technical Assistant is responsible for supporting the CFA Executive Director and Secretariat with technical writing and analysis, logistics and communications that foster the advancement of the CFA’s mission. This role will allow the CFA Secretariat to enhance its ability to produce material for its website, technical reports, and the conservation finance guide.  The Technical Assistant will report to the Executive Director, CFA, and will be based in Washington DC.

Qualifications: A master’s degree in Environment, Business, or Public Policy or a current master’s candidate. Interest in conservation finance. Strong writing skills. A second language beneficial but not required.

For a full description of the position please view the position description here.

 How to Apply: For consideration, please email your cover letter, resume/CV to: secretariat@conservationfinancealliance.org. Please specify Technical Assistant Internship in the subject of your email. Please include your weekly availability in your cover letter.

World Bank Group review of Nature-based tourism tools and resources Open until Tuesday 30 April 2019

The World Bank is committed to tackling the world’s toughest development challenges – especially poverty and inequality. All of our resources – our global development knowledge, investment capital, financial expertise and country presence – are devoted to making the world a more just and prosperous place. Tourism can play an integral role in helping us fulfill this mission.  In many developing countries, tourism promotes inclusive economic growth, creating jobs and attracting foreign investors.
Nature-based tourism is a growing sector and the World Bank is interested to understand what tools and resources are already available to support developing countries plan for and implement sustainable nature-based tourism offerings.

The Nature-Based Tourism (NBT) Community of Practice (CoP), part of the Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice, has commissioned a review of relevant tools and resources to help WB staff and clients enhance preparation and implementation of projects that have a NBT component.

We would like to invite to you to contribute to this process, through a short survey, to help ensure that all applicable tools and resources are captured. 

The survey should take just 5-10 minutes to complete, and it will be open until 30 April 2019.

To access the survey, click here, or paste this link into your web browser https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WB_NBT_Survey

Please circulate this invitation to others in your networks that may be interested.

Photo taken from survey site.

New Countries Eligible for Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship

Due to overwhelming interest in the fellowship, 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 expand the number of countries eligible to apply for the Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship. The goal of the fellowship program is to strengthen Pacific regional capacity in financing for improved ocean governance and health. 

Citizens or permanent residents of Cook Islands, Tokelau, Papua New Guinea, and Niue are now eligible to apply.

Citizens or permanent residents of Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu remain eligible. The fellowship program will now select up to 15 fellows for this first cohort.

This fellowship is part of the Pacific Ocean Finance Program, which is Component 3 of the Pacific Regional Oceanscape Program (PROP) - funded by World Bank and 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 deadline to apply has been extended to May 10th, 2019.  

Click here for more information. 

Questions? Contact pacificfinancefellows@conservation-strategy.org.

M2PA Request For Proposals for CTF Design

The Association for the Sustainable Financing of Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas (M2PA), is issuing a re-bidding regarding its Request for Proposals (RFP) to design a Mediterranean Conservation Trust Fund and to develop operational guidelines. The goal of their organization is to establish a regional conservation trust fund (CTF) dedicated to Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas (MPA) to sustain their day to day management.

The attached RFP and Terms of reference contain all the necessary information for interested candidates.

Photo from M2PA website

FFEM Seeks Consultant for Final Evaluation of Project K

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.

Upcoming CFA Webinar: Fighting Fire with Finance; Introducing the Forest Resilience Bond

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.