The Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) is seeking a consulting team for two linked projects to advance the understanding and effectiveness of Conservation Trust Funds (CTFs): A 10-Year Review of Conservation Trust Funds and an Expansion to the Practice Standards for Conservation Trust Funds. The 10-Year Review will provide all actors with an improved understanding of the scope, effectiveness and impact of CTFs around the world. The Practice Standards project will provide existing and new CTFs with additional evidence-based norms to guide their operations and update the existing Practice Standards. By organizing these two projects under one combined consultancy supported by a CFA Task Force, we will achieve greater efficiency and shared benefits.
Please download the Call for Proposals here. The deadline for submissions is July 24th, 2019.
Please share this Call for Proposals widely with your networks.
Launch of Marine & Coastal Finance Working Group
CFA is excited to announce the official launch of the Marine and Coastal Finance Working Group. We are very pleased to have Marine Finance experts Annabelle Bladon and Melissa Walsh working as Co-Chairs. If you are interested in joining the working group or have questions for our new chairs, please visit the Marine and Coastal Finance WG page on the CFA site.
Photo: Hannes Klostermann
WWF and Partners Secure Long-Term Funding to Protect the Peruvian Amazon
From WWF - The Government of Peru, WWF and partners today announced a commitment of $140 million to expand and effectively manage almost 17 million hectares of protected areas in the Amazon.
The funds will be used to buy wildlife monitoring equipment; develop resilience and mitigation strategies; and increase and strengthen participation by local and indigenous people in the management of protected areas.
The funding supports “Patrimonio Natural del Perú” (National Parks: Peru’s Natural Legacy), a Government of Peru-led cutting-edge initiative to create financial sustainability for the entire national protected areas system of Peru. The initiative will eventually cover 100 percent of Peru’s protected areas network. which is mainly comprised of national parks in the Amazon river basin and marine protected areas in the Andean Coast.
Read the full story on the WWF site and view the Press Release here.
Photo credit: Day’s Edge Productions / WWFUS
Environmental Markets and Finance Summit Oct 29-31, 2019 | Mandarin Oriental Hotel | Washington, D.C.
Join AEMI and Forest Trends for a high-level gathering of public, private, and philanthropic communities in forestry, carbon, ecological restoration, water resources management, and corporate sustainability.
Connect and network with leaders from corporations, local, state and federal agencies, regulators, consultants, providers, and users of offsets, policymakers, nonprofits and universities.
This working summit will advance natural infrastructure and tools that address climate change, including:
Leveraging public, private, and philanthropic investments in natural infrastructure for disaster resilience
Cross-boundary public and private investments for habitat, climate and water quality
Adapting market tools and methodologies for supply chain management of impacts on climate, biodiversity, communities, and water.
Market-based mechanisms and strategies
Investment strategies with multiple benefits for climate, water, biodiversity, and communities
For further information and to register for the Summit please visit their website.
Madagascar Biodiversity Fund Seeking New Executive Director
FAPBM is seeking a new Executive Director. Please visit the FAPBM website or download the position description (in French) for further information.
Applicants must be fluent French speakers.
WWF US Seeking Sustainable Finance Intern
World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the world’s leading conservation organization, seeks an intern to support its work in Sustainable Finance. WWF has identified Finance as a key programmatic focus because the global finance system enables all types of economic activity, and this activity can have a significant impact on our planet. We are interested in how money flows, and how to influence it for environmental benefit.
Working with WWF's global Finance Practice, the intern will support desk research and preparation of external presentation materials including power point presentation materials, blogs and delivered remarks, as well as semi-structured brief summaries of major studies in the area of Sustainable Finance.
For a full description of the position as well as information on how to apply please visit the WWFUS careers page.
U.S. Natural Climate Solutions Accelerator Grant Program is now accepting proposals for awards up to $250k
Got a smart project that uses nature to mitigate climate change in the United States? Then you’re in luck. Through the generous support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Nature Conservancy is announcing a request for proposals for two additional rounds of grant funding for projects with potential to substantially increase the use of natural climate solutions through the U.S. Natural Climate Solutions Accelerator program.
This grant-funding program is focused on helping kick-start innovative and scalable approaches to capturing greenhouse gas emissions by using natural and working lands in the United States. The program’s steering committee approved the first five grants in the fall of 2018 and plans to complete two additional rounds of grantmaking during the next 12 months. Awards up to $250,000 per project are available in this second round of grantmaking. Visit nature.org/NCSaccelerator to learn more about this opportunity, former awardees, how to apply, and to register for the applicant webinar. The deadline for applications is August 16, 2019.
Photo © Eric Aldrich/TNC
Upcoming Webinar: Financing Coral Reef Conservation and Management with Tourism-Related Tools
Presented by: David Meyers of the Conservation Finance Alliance
Coral reefs provide enormous economic value to humanity, and their value for recreation is one of the easiest to capture financially. This webinar will explore the range of existing and emerging tools that protected areas and site managers can use to capture funds from tourism for conservation and management. Specifically the webinar will discuss the use of: 1) entry, activity, and special use fees; 2) commercial concessions; 3) departure taxes; 4) partnerships with hotels; and 5) voluntary donations. This webinar is sponsored by the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), an informal partnership which strives to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems around the world, as part of its collaboration with the Conservation Finance Alliance for promoting innovative financing for coral reef conservation.
Co-sponsors: OCTO (OpenChannels, The Skimmer, MPA News), the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by OCTO and NatureServe), and the Reef Resilience NetworkConservation Finance Alliance
This webinar will be offered at two different times:·
Viewing 1: Wednesday, July 17, Noon US EDT/9 am US PDT/4 pm UTC·
Register:
· Viewing 1: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jNI0kihxTYuh6Je3MGFalg
· Viewing 2: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5Wf9DQjtToCWS-SCe_PbIg
Photo Credit: Warren Baverstock
Upcoming: Launch of CFA Incubator
The CFA is soon launching the Conservation Finance Incubator - a new facility to provide virtual incubation services for innovation in conservation finance tools and solutions. The Incubator will support two potential tracks: 1) Commercial Ventures that seek to generate a financial return and 2) Finance Concepts that lead to policy, regulatory, or non-profit finance solutions. All solutions must be new ideas and show clear potential for conservation impact. Concepts can be from any sector (public, private, etc.) and can include ideas generated directly by CFA Members, partner organizations, and independent organizations and entrepreneurs. The CFA will announce a call for concepts shortly. The Conservation Finance Incubator is supported by FFEM and MAVA Foundation.
Update of Environmental Funds Toolkit
The new Environmental Funds Toolkit is now online. Over the past few months the CFA has been working to update the Environmental Funds Toolkit and it is currently available on the CFA website. The updated site now allows us to upload new documents to share among Environmental Funds (also called Conservation Trust Funds). We are currently looking for examples of Fundraising Strategies, Business Plans, and Investment Strategies that include ESG investing as well as recent examples of various establishment and organizational documents. Please visit the site and upload relevant documents so that we can add them to the Toolkit. If you have any questions regarding the EFTK please contact the secretariat.
Photo: Alex Mustard