Mainstream green finance initiatives conceptualize environmental funding gaps as examples of market failures. Nature- and climate-related risks are perceived as underpriced in financial markets, resulting in negative externalities borne by society and the natural world.

Experts in conservation and finance say the reaction shows wildlife conservation finance, for decades largely the preserve of wealthy donors and governments, has massive potential to attract institutional investors, helped by growing public awareness of the delicate state of the planet.

"Locals in Seychelles will have the chance to play an equal role in decision-making and the management of marine protected areas in a first-of-its-kind participatory project. The project – enhancing coastal and marine socio-ecological resilience and biodiversity conservation in the Western Indian Ocean – is being funded by the German Climate Initiative (IKI) through the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)."

A detailed look at how the Rhino Impact Bond, the first financial instrument linked to the conservation of rhinos, works.

"The Trump Administration says it 'improved' the Endangered Species Act this week by creating a new rule that incorporates the cost of lost profits from logging, mining, and other operations into the process of identifying endangered species. The rule has been rightly slammed for reducing environmental protections and excluding climate impacts from habitat decisions, but it should also be slammed for its impact on rural American workers."

Investors in the $50 million bond will be paid back their capital and a coupon if African black rhino populations in five sites across Kenya and South Africa increase over five years.

The World Bank issued the first “green” bonds in 2008, and the market has since grown steadily, expected to top $250bn in issuance by the end of 2019, according to the Climate Bonds Initiative. But amid all this accelerating activity, the planet's wildlife — on land and in the oceans — has been mostly left behind.

A new Southeast Asia forestry fund launched by Australia-based New Forests includes a tranche aimed at impact investors with specific reforestation, biodiversity and community livelihood goals. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation helped negotiate the impact tranche and has approved a $10 million equity investment in the planned $300 million fund.