BIOFIN (Biodiversity Finance Initiative) COVID19 Crowdfunding Campaign

BIOFIN has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign in order to support the Tamaraws, a wild dwarf buffalo living in only one place in the world -- the island of Mindoro (the Philippines). Recently, due to COVID19, 32 of 35 wardens and 1 ranger previously operating in Mount Iglit Baco National Park, the last remaining bastion for the Tamaraws, have lost their jobs. The endangered Tamaraws are at risk of losing their protectors.

Please access the official communication from BIOFIN below, and participate in this crowdfunding campaign!

Webinar Series: Strengthening Protected Area Management Effectiveness

This series is part of the IUCN WCPA's "Vital Sites; the Journey to Marseille", a 6-month long series of online events and multimedia content to run between June 2020 and the rescheduled World Conservation Congress in January 2021. 

This four-part webinar series aims to strengthen and continue connections among protected area practitioners and those involved in the evaluation of management effectiveness for protected areas. 

Job Posting: Senior Environmental Specialist (World Bank Group)

The World Bank is seeking to recruit a Senior Environmental Specialist based in Washington DC.  The work program for this position will focus on providing technical leadership on biodiversity and wildlife management program, managing an analytical work program (studies), and providing technical advice globally on matters related to ecology and wildlife management to World Bank lending program as needed.  There is also an expectation that in time the candidate would be required to become proficient in the Bank’s environmental and social framework (ESF) and to become an accredited environmental risk management specialist for projects that have complex ecological challenges.  

Call for Proposals: BIOPAMA Rapid Response Grants 2020

BIOPAMA is pleased to announce the launch of the Call for Proposals for Rapid Response Grants of the BIOPAMA Action Component. These grants aim at increasing the resilience of protected areas and local communities’ livelihoods facing the risks and difficulties of the global COVID-19 pandemic in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. Applications are open to eligible organisations on a rolling basis until 31 December 2020 but will be processed in the order they are received.

CFA is seeking an Intern!

The Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) is the leading global professional alliance of conservation finance experts, practitioners, and organizations.  The CFA’s mission it to promote awareness, expertise, and innovation in conservation finance globally.  Our internships are extremely interesting and technical.  Please follow the link to the advertisement below and share with potential candidates. Please note, this is an unpaid position. 

Short Term Consultancy - Business Development Consultant for SeyCCAT

The GOS-UNDP-GEF Programme Coordination Unit (PCU) within the Ministry of Environment is implementing a GEF funded project entitled “Seychelles Protected Areas Finance” (PAF).
Under Activity 2.3.1. the PAF project aims to support the implementation of Seychelles’ Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT),  under activity 2.3.2. the funding needs of Protected Area Systems (PAS) are duly articulated in the creation and management of environmental finance mechanisms in Seychelles, including the SeyCCAT, and they have become mainstreamed.

The PAF project seeks to recruit a business development consultant to undertake a review of the SeyCCAT business model and evaluate possible opportunities that can exist to grow both the annually disbursed Grants Fund and the budget for administration and operations.

COVID19 and the Conservation Finance Community: Blended Finance

The fifth Coronavirus and the Conservation Finance Community online discussion will dive into the benefits of Blended Finance for Nature as a robust conservation finance mechanism in the time of Coronavirus and beyond.

July 31st, 11am EST
Registration required

Blended Finance is defined as “the use of catalytic capital from public or philanthropic sources to increase private sector investment in sustainable development” (Convergence).  This was one of the conservation finance mechanisms that remains potentially robust despite the current Covid19 pandemic (see CFA Covid discussion).  Three panelists coming from diverse organizations active in this area will discuss the benefits and challenges of Blended Finance as a conservation finance mechanism. They will discuss, in the time of coronavirus, how Blended Finance can be used to ensure the continuation of capital flows and alignment of incentives in conservation worldwide. Some specific topics may include how the current Covid19 pandemic has impacted the formation and execution of Blended Finance mechanisms. As well, looking ahead, what are some of the lessons learned as a result of this pandemic that can help strengthen Blended Finance mechanisms.

Moderated by:

David Meyers - Executive Director, CFA

Panelists

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Adhiti Gupta - Convergence

Adhiti is a Manager at Convergence where she leads the market acceleration program for blended finance vehicles in emerging markets. She manages Design Funding, which provides early stage grant support for the design of blended finance vehicles aligned to the SDGs that aim to attract private capital at scale. Prior to Convergence, Adhiti advised funds, family offices and foundation making impact investments in developed and emerging markets while working at RPCK, a boutique law firm in New York City.

Adhiti has previously practiced in India, where she advised on cross-border M&A transactions and private equity/venture capital transactions. Adhiti also counseled social enterprises as a consultant with Accion Microfinance Council and a project manager with Columbia Impact Investing Initiative. Adhiti holds a master’s degree from Columbia Law School, and a law degree from National Law School of India University. She has been awarded the Temasek Foundation Leadership Enrichment and Regional Networking Award by the National University of Singapore.

Gregory Watson - Natural Capital Lab, IDB

Gregory Watson currently leads the IDB’s Natural Capital Lab, funded with $44M from the governments of France and the United Kingdom.  The lab serves as a one-stop shop for the IDB Group and partners to drive innovation in natural capital finance and biodiversity mainstreaming.  ​It was created to incubate, accelerate, and scale new solutions to pressing environmental problems by looking at nature as asset.  Previously, Gregory was a Lead Specialist at the IDB Lab’s Climate-Smart Agriculture team. He led the IDB’s first equity investment in oceans, led an award-winning Forest Investment Program equity investment in a silvopastoral system in Brazil, helped develop the first Biodiversity Habitat Bank in Latin America, worked to develop a new asset class for natural capital trading, and designed other private sector projects in forestry, development impact bonds, and technology in the natural capital space.

Prior to this, he led the IDB Lab Environment and Clean Energy team in conceptualizing, overseeing, and implementing projects, investments, and research in clean and efficient energy, natural capital, and adaptation.    He created the EcoMicro green microfinance program, which was selected by the UNFCCC as a global “Lighthouse Award”.  He also conceptualized and launched the Climatescope, the first-ever ranking of the investment climate for climate investment in the Latin America and Caribbean region, and designed the first private sector Forest Investment Program project in the world, in Mexico.  A successful fundraiser, he also raised over $50M from the GCF, CIFs, and bilateral donors in this position.

Mr. Watson has a Master’s degree in International Development from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a bachelor’s from Tufts University.

Avril Benchimol - Blended Finance, Global Environment Facility

Avril Benchimol is leading the blended finance initiative at the GEF. She has sixteen years of experience in capital markets and structured finance both in multilateral institutions and investment banking. For the last eight years she worked at IDB-Invest, the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and at IDB Lab, designing and executing financial solutions for private sector clients in Latin America and the Caribbean. The projects included the use of guarantees, loans, and structured financing to issue sustainable and green bonds in both local currency and USD. She also led a green microfinance facility in 11 countries that facilitated microfinance clients’ mitigation and adaptation initiatives.

Prior to joining the IDB Group, she spent six years working in investment banking for Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas Fortis in London, Madrid, and Brussels. Her main areas of expertise included the structuring and origination of equity and debt transactions as well as the sales of structured equity derivatives. In 2011, she received her Master’s of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown, where she graduated with honors.

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Background on the Conservation Finance Alliance and the Coronavirus and Conservation Finance Community Series

The Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) is the leading global professional alliance of conservation finance experts, practitioners, and organizations.  The CFA’s mission is to promote awareness, expertise, and innovation in conservation finance globally.

The CFA has recently introduced a new series of online discussions regarding the impact of COVID-19 on conservation finance, titled “Coronavirus and the Conservation Finance Community”.

To date, three online discussions have been held. The first discussion focused generally on CTF’s, with representatives from CAFÉ and RedLAC discussing how the pandemic was impacting operations, finance flows, and what the future could look like. The second discussion identified specific conservation finance tools that are viewed as most robust in the face of the crisis. Following the taxonomy of conservation finance mechanisms outlined in the CFA white paper “Conservation Finance: A Framework”, three tools were identified: Public-Private Partnerships, Blended Finance, and Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Development.

The CFA is continuing the discussion by holding three additional online calls, focusing on each of these priority finance mechanisms.  The first of the three calls, which focused on Public-Private Partnerships with an emphasis on Marine Protected Areas, was recently completed on June 18th (recording available here).

The remaining calls are Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Development planned for July 10th and Blended Finance planned for sometime in late July (date will be announced shortly).

Investment Outlook for Environmental Funds in a Post-COVID World

As members and friends of the CFA and RedLAC networks, you are cordially invited to join a virtual panel discussion on the investment outlook for Environmental Funds in the time of COVID-19.  

July 21st, 11AM - 12PM EDT
RSVP below

In this moderated discussion, investment advisors from UBS, FINAD GmbH, and JP Morgan Chase will share their perspectives on the investment outlook for Environmental Funds (Conservation Trust Funds) in the context of the current COVID-19 global pandemic.   

Panelists:

Andrew B. Peake, CFA

Managing Director – UBS International, New York

Andrew joined UBS International in 2013 with over 30 years of experience in financial services, primarily in private wealth management, specializing in managed investment portfolios for ultra-high net worth clients and institutions.  His regional focus includes China, Europe, Latin America and the United States.

He began his career in 1989 in various portfolio management positions at Offitbank and Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.  In 1994, Andrew was recruited by JP Morgan as a Senior Portfolio Manager, where he was responsible for $2B in discretionary global balanced portfolios.  He was also a member of the Trust and Investment Committee for Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of the Bahamas.  In 1998 Andrew was recruited by Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, which deals exclusively with that firm's ultra-high net worth clients.

Andrew has two degrees from the University of Pennsylvania - a BA Magna Cum Laude in Chinese History and East Asian Studies and a MA in East Asian Studies.  His Master’s thesis analyzed and discussed the future of Hong Kong.  He also earned a MBA in Finance from New York University and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.  Andrew is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and has lived, worked and traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America.  He is an avid sports enthusiast and competed for a place in the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team.  Andrew is actively involved in mentorship programs for students from Asia and is often asked to speak on cultural matters pertaining to China and US business relations. Additionally, Andrew serves on the Financial Advisor Advisory Council a group of Financial Advisors that represent the 6,000 Financial Advisors with senior management in the US. 

Christian Tury

Chief Investment Officer, Managing Director — FINAD GmbH, Vienna

As a manager in a multi family office, we are all-rounders with a very in-depth understanding of a wide range of financial operations. Assuming responsibility is an obligation, which is why we also invest lots of time in our younger colleagues.

I studied sociology and political science at the University of Vienna, and European Studies at the Danube University in Krems. I always wanted to work in the financial sector. I was approved as a student of business studies at the Vienna University of Economics and Business when I encountered Warren Buffet in Omaha, Nebraska, for the first time. A speculative application to Chase Manhattan Bank made the dream reality. 

Juan Etinger

Managing Director, Global Head of Institutional Portfolio Solutions, J.P. Morgan

Juan Etinger is a Managing Director and Global Head of Institutional Portfolio Solutions. The group focuses on designing and managing single and multi-asset portfolios for endowments, foundations and institutional families.

Previously, Mr. Etinger was Senior Portfolio Manager overseeing the firm’s offshore Global Access Portfolios, a suite of global multi-asset investment funds that combine traditional asset classes with alternatives, structured investments and portfolio insurance strategies. Additionally, Mr. Etinger served as member of the investment team for the J.P. Morgan Access UCITS Funds, a multi-asset family of open-ended, offshore mutual funds tailored for international clients.

Mr. Etinger was a member of the J.P. Morgan Investment Strategy Team for over six years, responsible for development of investment strategy, including tactical and strategic asset allocation, for over $600 billion in client assets. In addition, he was a member of the Hedge Fund Advisory Council and due diligence’s Investment Review Committee.

Mr. Etinger holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (Booth), where he graduated with honors with a concentration in Quantitative Finance and Entrepreneurship. He also holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Buenos Aires. He lives in New York with his wife and three children.

Sponsored by the Environmental Funds Working Group

A partner event with:

Upcoming Partner webinar: The Rising Blue Dollar, Sustainable Ocean Financing for Marine Conservation

Upcoming webinar presented by Blue Finance and The Commonwealth Blue Charter

The Rising Blue Dollar: Sustainable Ocean Financing for Marine Conservation

When : July 22nd

14:00 - 15:00 BST (GMT + 1)

Marine Protected Areas often suffer from inadequate and unsustainable funding sources, with over 60% globally of existing MPAs having reported inadequate budgets for basic management and compliance. The Commonwealth has a huge stake in the future of our ocean, together covering more than one-third (35%) of national marine waters globally.

This webinar will –

• Provide an overview of the sustainable financing concept for the effective management of MPAs

• Showcase good and best practice case studies from two project sites

• Elaborate how financial resilience needs to be built in, to move forward in a post COVID-19 world

Experienced Consultant (WWF) - Brazilian Atlantic Forest

World Wildlife Fund is looking for an experienced consultant to conduct a feasibility study to establish a fund for landscape restoration in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The consultant will assess existing legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks, identify levels of interest and potential roles of different stakeholders, analyze fundraising potential and options for design of financing instruments including blended finance investments, and develop recommendations for design and governance of the restoration fund. The ideal candidate has experience in evaluating and designing grant-based as well as investment funds. To receive the detailed Terms of Reference and application information, please send an e-mail to conservation.finance@wwfus.org