This report assesses the state of biodiversity finance and recommends new financial mechanisms, focusing on biodiversity-positive carbon credits and nature certificates. It was developed by a High-Level Working Group with support from an Expert Panel.

Key Messages

1. Financial gap: global biodiversity financing needs to increase to $200 billion annually by 2030, while reducing harmful subsidies by $500 billion per year.
2. Innovative instruments: biodiversity-positive carbon credits and nature certificates can help bridge the financing gap and generate private sector interest.
3. Governance and policy: effective governance, clear policies, and institutional frameworks are crucial for market integrity and scaling up finance.
4. IPLC involvement: full participation and benefit-sharing with IPLCs are essential for successful stewardship of forests and biodiversity.
5. Market development: practical metrics, robust verification processes, and demand incentives are needed to develop high-integrity markets.

The post Innovative Finance for Nature and People appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

About GLF Nairobi 2023: ‘A new Vision for Earth’

The GLF Nairobi 2023 Hybrid Conference, held on October 11 and 12, convened global thought leaders to set the stage for COP28, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. This pivotal event mobilised action on critical issues affecting humanity, biodiversity, and our planet.

The conference featured two focused days: Day 1 centered on “Africa’s Sovereign Solutions,” exploring pathways to a sustainable and prosperous future for the continent. Day 2, dedicated to climate, aimed to craft a “Survival Guide for a Planet in Crisis,” paving the way for a fairer world ahead of COP28.

GLF Nairobi brought together a diverse coalition of influential voices, ranging from scientists, activists, and Indigenous leaders to financiers, women, youth, policymakers, and private sector representatives. As a united front, we collectively championed change and passionately advocated for meaningful action in these pivotal times.

About Otto Scharmer

Embark on an enlightening journey with Otto Scharmer as he guides us through a system thinking-based reality meditation. Otto, a senior lecturer at MIT and the founding chair of the Presencing Institute, has spent two decades empowering leaders to embrace transformative cross-sector systems.

Pioneering the ‘presencing’ concept through bestselling books like Theory U and Presence, Otto brings us closer to learning from the emerging future. His vision, shaped by early experiences on a family farm in Germany, emphasizes nurturing the social field as the core condition for visible transformations.

Join us in delving into Otto’s profound insights on regenerative leadership and the transformative shift from ego to eco, an essential stride towards a better world.

The post Otto Scharmer’s vision for Earth: A system thinking-based reality meditation appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

About GLF Nairobi 2023: ‘A new Vision for Earth’

The GLF Nairobi 2023 Hybrid Conference, held on October 11 and 12, convened global thought leaders to set the stage for COP28, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. This pivotal event mobilised action on critical issues affecting humanity, biodiversity, and our planet.

The conference featured two focused days: Day 1 centered on “Africa’s Sovereign Solutions,” exploring pathways to a sustainable and prosperous future for the continent. Day 2, dedicated to climate, aimed to craft a “Survival Guide for a Planet in Crisis,” paving the way for a fairer world ahead of COP28.

GLF Nairobi brought together a diverse coalition of influential voices, ranging from scientists, activists, and Indigenous leaders to financiers, women, youth, policymakers, and private sector representatives. As a united front, we collectively championed change and passionately advocated for meaningful action in these pivotal times.

About Dragons Den Plenary

The Dragons Den Plenary  featured innovative nature-based solution companies presenting their initiatives to a panel of expert judges, focusing on environmental impact, financial viability, and scalability. The meeting stressed the existential threat of biodiversity loss and the climate crisis, advocating for a new vision for Earth prioritizing all life forms. Speakers called for radical measures, including habitat restoration and reducing carbon emissions, with an emphasis on reforming access to climate finance through multilateral banks.

The East African Development Bank was proposed as a partner for action, emphasizing the need for tangible steps over mere rhetoric. The meeting underlined the importance of collective action to address environmental challenges and transition away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy sources.

The post Dragons’ Den: Moving towards landscape investments appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) held its sixth Investment Case Symposium, GLF-Luxembourg Finance for Nature: What comes next?, on 7 March 2023 in Luxembourg and online.

It brought together over 4,500 finance stakeholders from across the globe; project developers, entrepreneurs, and fund managers; development finance institutions, impact investors, donors, and foundations; investors, funds, banks, and other financiers; and youth, local communities, and changemakers.

The symposium showcased existing and innovative financial mechanisms, investable community-led business models, and successful climate investments. It connected local project developers – especially in the Global South – with investors; highlighted how to catalyze private sector investment in community-led and nature-based projects; and identified policy recommendations for moving green finance from the margins to the mainstream.

The Outcome Statement summarizes policy recommendations on the symposium’s four key themes below and showcases projects and initiatives of each category.

1. Blended finance
2. Impact monitoring and standards
3. Sustainable value chains
4. Innovation for community finance

Explore a curated catalog of nature-based solutions and sustainable land use projects in different stages, or showcase your project with us

Browse the Outcome Statement interactive webpage

The post The 6th GLF Investment Case Symposium Outcome Statement appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

About the 6th GLF Investment Case Symposium

Hosted in Luxembourg and online, GLF–Luxembourg Finance for Nature 2023: What comes next? united 4,500 participants from 160 countries around how finance can solve – rather than exacerbate – the climate and biodiversity crises. The event featured 106 speakers and 100 global and local partner organizations and reached 10 million people on social media, with more than 230,000 engagements.

About this session

There is no lack of opportunities to invest in nature. Many projects, funds, and investors are making waves in the world of sustainable finance with ambitions to positively impact local communities and landscapes. Yet to achieve these goals, best practices need to be scaled up. This session reflects on successful and innovative financing mechanisms that could be leveraged to sustain and restore nature.

The post New ways forward: How can the financial ecosystem sustain and restore nature? appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

About the 6th GLF Investment Case Symposium

Hosted in Luxembourg and online, GLF–Luxembourg Finance for Nature 2023: What comes next? united 4,500 participants from 160 countries around how finance can solve – rather than exacerbate – the climate and biodiversity crises. The event featured 106 speakers and 100 global and local partner organizations and reached 10 million people on social media, with more than 230,000 engagements.

About this session

The session launched a new guide developed by IUCN and FOLUR that lays out a methodology for agribusinesses to manage their risks through investing in landscape restoration. The guide was developed based on a collaboration with three private-sector counterparts working with agricultural commodities (sugar and cocoa value chains in Tanzania, Peru, and Ghana) on how to restore landscapes in their supply chains.

Resources

Publication: Preview – A guide to investing in landscape restoration to sustain agrifood supply chains

Video: Reduce risks along supply chains by investing in landscape restoration

The post Catalyzing investments for landscape restoration in agrifood supply chains: Sharing experiences and tools appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

About the 6th GLF Investment Case Symposium

Hosted in Luxembourg and online, GLF–Luxembourg Finance for Nature 2023: What comes next? united 4,500 participants from 160 countries around how finance can solve – rather than exacerbate – the climate and biodiversity crises. The event featured 106 speakers and 100 global and local partner organizations and reached 10 million people on social media, with more than 230,000 engagements.

About this session

In this panel discussion, experts from the fields of nature-based solutions (NBS) and blended finance came together to discuss challenges and opportunities for financing NBS projects and present insights on blended finance based on their experience in Latin America, West Africa, and Asia.

The session explored how combining public and private finance through blended finance instruments can support the implementation of NBS projects and how this approach can deliver multiple benefits for people and nature.

The post Navigating the tricky terrain of NBS and blended finance appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

About the 6th GLF Investment Case Symposium

Hosted in Luxembourg and online, GLF–Luxembourg Finance for Nature 2023: What comes next? united 4,500 participants from 160 countries around how finance can solve – rather than exacerbate – the climate and biodiversity crises. The event featured 106 speakers and 100 global and local partner organizations and reached 10 million people on social media, with more than 230,000 engagements.

About this session

The increased need for innovative entrepreneurial solutions to drive sustainable transformations of industry in the Global South means there is an increased need for accelerator and incubator programs to get businesses investment-ready. This session aimed to help entrepreneurs in and across the Global South better understand accelerators, incubators, and their role in promoting businesses that focus on sustainability.

The post Accelerating Nature-Based Businesses in the Global South appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

About the 6th Investment Case Symposium

Hosted in Luxembourg and online, the GLF–Luxembourg Finance for Nature 2023: What comes next? united 4,500 participants from 160 countries, 106 speakers, and 100 global and local partner organizations, and reached 10 million people on social media, with more than 230 thousand engagements, around how finance can solve – rather than exacerbate – the climate and biodiversity crises.

About this session

Many corporate and financial investors have adopted net-zero emission targets and biodiversity commitments. However, it remains difficult to ensure compliance in a robust and cost-effective manner, such as that agricultural loans do not contribute to deforestation, or to demonstrate that investments increase biodiversity. Impact investors are therefore increasingly demanding impact monitoring tools to ensure that investments generate no harm and provide restoration benefits in terms of enhanced resilience to climate change and biodiversity conservation.

Resources

Presentation: Environmental impact monitoring and assessment

Presentation: Impact monitoring for forests landscape restoration (FLR)

Presentation: Impact monitoring to scale nature-based investments

The post Demonstrate what works: Better impact monitoring to scale nature-based investments appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

About the 6th GLF Investment Case Symposium

Hosted in Luxembourg and online, GLF–Luxembourg Finance for Nature 2023: What comes next? united 4,500 participants from 160 countries around how finance can solve – rather than exacerbate – the climate and biodiversity crises. The event featured 106 speakers and 100 global and local partner organizations and reached 10 million people on social media, with more than 230,000 engagements.

About this session

This session showcases successful market-based mechanisms for conservation finance and explores the remaining challenges in this emerging field. The session also introduces the new Rimba Collective incubation and readiness facility designed to help conservation projects prepare for market demand and present a clear pathway to finance conservation and restoration impacts at scale and over time.

Resources

Publication: Introducing Lestari Capital: The time for nature-based solutions is now

Video: What is the Rimba Collective

Podcast: Lestari Capital’s CEO on Rimba Collective and joint corporate conservation investments

Presentation: Building an ecosystem services program in the Leuser ecosystem

The post Market-based mechanisms: Sustainable conservation finance from incubation to operations appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.