Sustainable Finance Frameworks
Using finance solutions such as Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) to reward traditional and responsible practices, such as native rubber tapping in the Amazon.
Building a Financial Roadmap for the Protection of Pollinating Insects
Costa Rica
Costa Rica
The vast majority of the world’s crops depend on pollination, with pollinating insects playing a crucial role in supporting local ecosystems and maintaining biodiversity. the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), in collaboration with Forever Costa Rica, is working to expand management and governance practices at the local, subnational, national, and regional level to promote the ecosystem services provided by pollinators.
CSF contributed to this broader effort by identifying and developing financial and economic mechanisms that incentivize pollination services and promote the sustainable use of pollinating insects. CSF also analyzed the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing these mechanisms, offering guidance for their future adaptation and development.
CSF contributed to this broader effort by identifying and developing financial and economic mechanisms that incentivize pollination services and promote the sustainable use of pollinating insects. CSF also analyzed the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing these mechanisms, offering guidance for their future adaptation and development.
Closing the "Forest Finance Gap"
Indonesia & Brazil
Indonesia & Brazil
Collaborating across oceans, our Brazil and Indonesia teams joined forces with WWF-UK to conduct a definitive forest finance gap study, releasing the executive summary at COP30. The research revealed that while a staggering $17 billion (USD) is urgently required to keep the Amazon and Southeast Asian forests standing, current financial flows moving toward forest destruction are 8 times larger in Brazil and 14 times larger in Indonesia than capital dedicated to protection. Rather than framing this as an insurmountable crisis, the report serves as an empowering investment roadmap, outlining clear strategies to mobilize public and private capital simultaneously and providing actionable solutions to close the global forest finance gap.
Financial Solutions for the Restoration, Conservation, and Sustainable Management of the Amazon
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela
In the last few decades, several financial instruments have emerged to help finance the protection of the Amazon’s forests; some of them can be found in more mature capital markets, while others are still in an experimental phase. To determine which mechanisms will be the most effective in protecting and managing the Amazon’s environmental health, the IDB Group recently launched Amazonia Forever, “a holistic umbrella program that aims to scale up financing, share strategic knowledge for decision-makers, and enhance regional coordination to accelerate the sustainable, inclusive and resilient development of the Amazon region”(iadb.org).
CSF contributed to this initiative by identifying, analyzing, and prioritizing existing and potential innovative financial instruments and mechanisms for conservation in the following countries of the Amazon region: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. CSF economists categorized each mechanism according to regional land or territorial regulations, rights of use, and Payments for Ecosystem Services. They also examined national and international regulations, market standards, international best practices, and environmental and social integrity standards.
CSF contributed to this initiative by identifying, analyzing, and prioritizing existing and potential innovative financial instruments and mechanisms for conservation in the following countries of the Amazon region: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. CSF economists categorized each mechanism according to regional land or territorial regulations, rights of use, and Payments for Ecosystem Services. They also examined national and international regulations, market standards, international best practices, and environmental and social integrity standards.
We lead several courses to strengthen the development of conservation finance tools for nature:
Introduction to Conservation Finance
Self-paced, Virtual
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Financing the protection of nature is growing increasingly essential to the conservation and environmental protection fields. Led by David Meyers, Executive Director of Conservation Finance Alliance, this self-paced course covers the fundamentals of conservation finance solutions, public and private sector partnerships, scalable strategies, and emerging tools and opportunities to help finance nature now and far into the future. This course consists of six topics, or about 10 hours of self-paced work. Enrolment is always open for this course.
Finance 4Nature
Cohort, In-person
CSF and the Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) launched a new short course to help conservation professionals understand the suite of finance solutions available to increase their conservation impact. Enrolment for the next cohort will be announced via CSF's newsletter.
“In 3 days [this course] consolidated what I've been trying to understand about the pros and cons of different financial instruments over the last year, and brought them all together as a suite of options. [I] gained more knowledge than I could have hoped for.” - Finance 4Nature Course Participant
Indigenous Land Management Calculator
Brazil
Brazil
In partnership with ISA and Rede Xingu+, Conservation Strategy Fund (CSF) Brazil developed a general cost model based on historical and hypothetical data that is able to predict budget levels for different management activities of about 20 Indigenous Lands located in the Xingu River region.
The cost model predicts values for improvements in eight strategic areas included in the majority of the PGTAs in the region: governance; inspection and protection; cultural strengthening; income generation; food sovereignty; infrastructure (energy, communication and transport); education; health and sanitation. In addition to presenting the costs involved in achieving these improvements, our results show how much, according to these priority areas, the PGTAs are already implemented – varying by degrees from “not implemented” to “well implemented”.
We builded a website to host the cost model with explanatory visual elements which facilitate access to and use of the cost model by all stakeholders. This online “calculator” of the values of these eight strategic areas is similar to CSF’s Mining Impacts Calculator, and is able to be used by NGOs and Indigenous organizations as an important resource for raising funds for native communities, but also as a tool for monitoring the implementation of its management goals.
According to André Villas Bôas (ISA/Rede Xingu +):
Xingu's protected areas are a valuable socio-environmental heritage and are increasingly under threat. Managing these areas is complex, and this calculator is the first tool to present the real minimum costs for their protection.
Closing the billion dollar black hole in forest finance
With WWF
We found that the amount of money flowing into destroying forests was 8x larger in Brazil and 14x larger in Indonesia than what was going in to protecting them.
Protecting Cranes& Wetlands
With the International Crane Foundation and the Conservation Finance Alliance
Valuing the Monteverde Cloud Forest
With Centro Científico Tropical
We found that the Forest contributes $11.3 million annually in ecosystem services to Costa Rica.
Financing the Future of Coral Reefs
With the Global Fund for Coral Reefs
