To the question “should partnerships advance water quality?”, many practitioners answer: “Yes, but how exactly?” A survey at the outset of the 2021 New England
Roundtable showed 36% of participants were “not sure how to get started” with pursuing water utility partnerships, 39% were “already doing it,” and...
The
Network, in partnership with the Yale Center for Business and Environment and Highstead, is pleased to host the Conservation Finance Virtual Boot Camp July 13 – July 15, 2021. This Virtual Boot Camp will explore the latest trends and strategies in funding and financing being put to work for land and natural resource conservation, restoration, and stewardship. With an emphasis on hands-on tools and lessons from relevant case studies, we will explore innovative and overlooked opportunities. Recordings of the webinars will be publicly available on our website at a later date. Registration Fee: $60 This fee will help us continue to grow our programming. If the ticket price is cost-prohibitive for your attendance, please contact Helen Rogers. Preliminary Agenda Day 1 – Tuesday, July 13th Session 1: The Evolution and Next Era of Conservation Funding & Financing [2:00 - 3:00 pm ET ] What exactly is conservation finance? Which approaches are well established, and what does emerging activity and innovation entail? This session will provide an overview of how conservation finance approaches have evolved, exploring current trends and a range of funding and financing strategies being put to work for land and resource conservation, restoration, and stewardship...
Risks and opportunities in natural ecosystems will prove a lot harder to count.
The understanding has spread that companies face risks and opportunities in nature, just as they do in competitive markets or under certain regulations. In that context, a new group called the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) aims to broaden and deepen investors' interest in details from companies about...
A law is emerging from a structured set of discussions among participants in current Chesapeake Bay conservation program. It represents a series of levers to squeeze clarity and value out of current regulation, redefining blue infrastructure and creating space for profitable trading in carbon. The law, with support from one-half...
This op/ed builds off the Enduring Arches: Building
Projects for Impact report. Gordian Knot Strategies developed that report in collaboration with the Conservation Finance Network and with the generous support of the Walton Family Foundation. The full report can be accessed here. This op/ed originally ran on ImpactAlpha...
How do you think about what makes investors, conservation professionals and members of the public better off? For the authors of a new report, this question sparked an intellectual inquiry that led to a new language for thinking about what gives a project value. The language builds off the framework...
Asset managers have rapidly affirmed biodiversity's value to capitalism. Is there froth ahead?
Two recent investment projects are raising significant money to try to show that taking natural capital investment to the next level is not only possible, but potentially a key piece for future institutional asset managers to include in a balanced portfolio. No matter how you slice it, to get a...
The Taos Land Trust's Youth Conservation Corps poses before working to revive an acequela, tackle invasive species, restore wetlands and sustainably grow food. Attention to community needs and priorities drives this workplan. (Courtesy the Taos Land Trust.)
Traditionally, the conservation movement has fought to protect land, air and water, but it has not served all communities equally. Recognizing the interconnections between injustice done to the most vulnerable communities and the environment clarifies how access to a healthy environment relates to public health, food security, community vitality, education...
A tree-planting project fits the civic focus of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy. (Photo courtesy WRLC.)
While more public funding sources have emerged recently for conservation finance, particularly around working farms, landowners with means and motivation remain a staple of the private conservation process. These landowners are largely white, and their properties most often located in rural and suburban areas. The distribution of conserved land and...
Huge corporations have promised to zero out their carbon impact, so prices for natural carbon sinks should see upward pressure starting now. Three forest carbon finance specialists thrash out three paths to success, navigating standards and science and the occasional drag that comes with creating a marketplace in the midst...
