topic: Conservation Finance

topic: Conservation Finance

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In Panama’s Darién, Indigenous communities test a new way to fund conservation
- With illegal logging and agricultural expansion closing in on their lands, four Indigenous Wounaan and Emberá-Wounaan villages in Panama’s Darién forest started a biodiversity monitoring project to document their forests’ conservation status.
- Their biodiversity monitoring project recorded more than 200 species across 18,000 hectares (44,500 acres) of threatened forest.
- They’re now using the data as a baseline for joining the biodiversity credits market — a nascent arm of the nature finance industry that’s being touted as a way to help pay for conservation.
- Although biodiversity credit advocates say this market has learned from the mistakes of the carbon credit markets, observers say it’s still too soon to evaluate if it will deliver on its promises.

UN fund for sharing biodiversity benefits struggles for attention — and money
- The Cali Fund, established to channel companies’ contributions from the use of digital genetic data back to the countries and communities of origin, has received just $6,000 from two companies since its launch in February 2025 — far short of the $1 billion a year it was expected to raise.
- “Nobody knows about the fund,” said Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, citing low awareness, a limited operational framework, and the reluctance of large companies to make the first move.
- Experts also flagged limited recognition of the fund’s compliance certificates by countries, and concerns over a memorandum of understanding that uses “donor” language.
- Governments are expected to address these issues at the next U.N. biodiversity summit, in Yerevan, Armenia, in October.

Can REDD+ deliver for Philippines’ Iraya Mangyan?
- The Mindoro Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Programme combines Indigenous forest patrols, ancestral-domain support, carbon monitoring and livelihood projects to protect more than 40,000 hectares (nearly 99,000 acres) of Iraya Mangyan forest.
- Indigenous patrollers and local officials say the program has already strengthened monitoring and helped reduce timber poaching and small-scale mining, while surveys have documented hundreds of plant and animal species across the project area.
- Community nurseries and paid conservation roles are creating early livelihood opportunities, but many benefits remain limited and uneven while the project awaits verification, a finalized benefit-sharing agreement and carbon revenue expected no earlier than around 2029.
- Whether the program can deliver lasting benefits will depend on finalizing a transparent revenue-sharing agreement, sustaining patrols and livelihoods during the long wait for carbon income, and ensuring the Iraya retain a meaningful role in decisions over their forests.

In Spain & South Africa, communities use restoration to ‘grow’ fire insurance (commentary)
- Managing fire as a part of restoring ecosystems is vital to protecting both communities and economies from disaster: While fire is a natural part of many ecosystems, when forests are poorly managed they become fuel reservoirs just waiting for a spark.
- Spain’s Muga Valley and South Africa’s Langkloof share such a management history but are now pivoting to ecosystem restoration to protect communities, economies and biodiversity.
- “It is the health of the landscape that will determine whether fire acts as a force of connection or destruction. The choice, in effect, is whether we leave that risk unmanaged, or begin to build insurance into the land itself,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Why carbon markets alone won’t save Southeast Asia’s concessions forests
New research suggests a “massive and untapped” opportunity for conservation within commercial concessions in Southeast Asia, reports Mongabay’s Carolyn Cowan. Using satellite data, researchers identified roughly 42 million hectares (104 million acres) of intact forest still standing inside logging, timber, rubber and oil palm concessions across Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar. The study suggests that […]
Mariano Cenamo, advocate for a sustainable Amazon bioeconomy, has died, aged 46
- Mariano Cenamo spent more than two decades trying to make standing forests economically competitive with cattle ranching and other activities driving Amazon deforestation, helping establish Idesam and later backing a new generation of sustainable businesses.
- His work evolved from early efforts on forest carbon and REDD+ to agroforestry, bioeconomy ventures, investment, and entrepreneurship, always centered on creating practical sources of income for people living in the Amazon.
- Drawing on Cenamo’s own writings and interviews, as well as Vanessa Adachi’s posthumous portrait in Reset, this obituary explores the ideas, motivations, and personal style behind one of the Amazon’s most influential environmental entrepreneurs.
- Cenamo died on July 10 after several years with cancer. He was 46.

Carbon markets alone won’t keep Southeast Asia’s forests standing, study says
- A new study has identified “massive and untapped” conservation potential within forestry and plantation concessions in Southeast Asia.
- Roughly 42 million hectares of forests remain standing inside logging, oil palm, timber and rubber plantation concessions across the region, the study says.
- The researchers examined what it would take to financially incentivize forest conservation inside these concessions, finding that using carbon markets alone would require carbon prices many times higher than current values.
- They point to the need for diversified sources of conservation funding to complement carbon markets, such as blended finance, green bonds and payment for ecosystems services, as well as more supportive governance frameworks that elevate the viability of conservation over development.

How carbon markets can succeed & also serve Global South communities (commentary)
- The world’s forests provide essential ecosystem services, capture and store huge amounts of carbon dioxide, face enormous pressure, and need sustained economic incentives if they are to survive.
- So why has the voluntary carbon market consistently fallen short of its promise to support forest conservation and communities, a new op-ed asks.
- “The ecosystem services forests provide are worth something, and the people who live in and protect those forests must be the primary beneficiaries of that value. Anything short of that is not conservation but a new form of exploitation,” the author argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

How Brazil’s federal fiscal policy hinders Amazon Rainforest conservation (commentary)
- The three Brazilian states whose territory is mostly Amazon Rainforest — and carry the heaviest share of its conservation burden — are among the poorest and most fiscally dependent in the country.
- Amapá, Acre, and Amazonas operate on budgets so dependent on federal funding that they have almost no ability to act on their own, yet they are also precluded from developing their economies within their vast and federally protected swaths of forest.
- “It is a design flaw in Brazil’s fiscal constitution, and it is getting worse,” a new op-ed argues. “Brazil cannot credibly lead global climate diplomacy while its Amazonian states remain fiscally trapped.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Our Ocean Conference in Kenya ends with $6.4 billion in pledges, review of past promises
- Governments, nonprofits, institutions and the private sector made more than 300 voluntary commitments and mobilized $6.4 billion for ocean conservation at the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, which closed June 18. It was the first time the annual gathering took place in Africa.
- The conference host, Kenya, laid out more than 40 commitments backed by more than $1 billion in finance for the expansion of marine protected areas, fisheries monitoring, climate finance and blue economy.
- With less than five years remaining to meet the goal of protecting 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, a lot of attention was on governments to accelerate the process, but experts continued to call for strengthening of existing protections alongside expansions.
- Between 2014 and now, more than 3,200 commitments totaling $176 billion have been made at these conferences, and about 85% of those commitments have been fulfilled or are in the process.

Africa’s community-led marine organizations on which 30×30 depends
- More than 5,000 delegates are gathering in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa for a major global conference on the future of the oceans.
- At the heart of the discussions is ocean governance and the global push to meet the 30×30 target — protecting 30% of the world’s land, freshwater and oceans by 2030.
- But meeting that goal will depend not only on governments and international pledges, but also on community-led organizations doing the difficult work of conserving fragile marine ecosystems.
- Across Africa and around the world, thousands of grassroots groups are carrying out this work, often far from the spotlight, helping shape ocean conservation and blue economies that support local livelihoods. Mongabay spoke with representatives of four such organizations working across the continent from the Western Indian Ocean to Africa’s Atlantic coast.

Fisheries and climate research would be hit hard in Trump’s proposed budget
- In April, the Trump administration released its proposed fiscal year 2027 budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
- The proposed budget would slash around $1 billion from the agency, terminate or reduce dozens of programs, and eliminate more than 1,000 positions, with particularly deep cuts aimed at NOAA Fisheries and climate research.
- While the budget proposes many cuts to NOAA’s operations, it also recommends increased financial support for deep-sea mining development, vessel development, and the seafood industry.
- Experts say delayed release of already-approved funding is disrupting research, threatening long-term scientific data sets and hampering fisheries management, species protection and weather and climate monitoring. However, the Office of Management and Budget, which is responsible for dispersing NOAA’s funding, denies there have been delays.

In Brazil, a project paying farmers for forests is looking to scale up
- The CONSERV payment for ecosystem services program pays landowners in the Amazon and the Cerrado savanna to protect forests they are legally allowed to convert into plantations or pasture.
- The program’s pilot phase has avoided over 30,000 hectares (around 74,130 acres) of legal deforestation in the states of Mato Grosso, Pará and Maranhão. Across Brazil, millions of hectares of forest on private land are at risk of being legally cleared.
- The Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) is now looking to scale up the project and is evaluating mechanisms that could fund the payments without relying on donations.
- One solution could be combining the sale of carbon credits, price premiums for commodities and access to cheaper credit to provide long-term incentives for landowners to conserve these forested areas.

The Amazon’s path from crisis to durability
- Amazon biodiversity protection depends on more than keeping forests standing; a forest can remain on the map while losing ecological function, governance protections, enforcement capacity, or public support.
- Six connected gaps shape Amazon conservation: finance and forest economy, governance, enforcement, forest function, Indigenous rights, and narrative.
- Progress is possible. Brazil has reduced deforestation before, satellite alerts can strengthen enforcement, Indigenous land rights can protect forests, and better finance and monitoring can make protection more durable.
- The central challenge is making the systems around the forest pull in the same direction: finance that favors protection, governance that reduces impunity, enforcement with consequences, rights that hold on the ground, monitoring that reveals what tree cover hides, and stories that show where action is possible.

Australia is failing to meet its environment targets, argues ecologist
Australia is one of 17 “megadiverse” countries that account for 70% of Earth’s biodiversity. However, Australia is unique in having the highest mammalian extinction rate in the world. That makes conservation on the island continent, where most of the wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth, all the more urgent. Conservation and environmental scientists have […]
Brazil has protected much of the Amazon. It now has to pay for it.
- Brazil has built one of the world’s most important protected-area systems, but a new study finds that most federal protected areas remain underfunded, with the largest shortfalls in the Amazon.
- The funding gap reflects more than the size of Brazil’s conservation estate: remote Amazon reserves are costly to manage, politically less visible, and often receive far less support than protected areas near cities and institutions.
- Underfunding has practical consequences, limiting staff, patrols, fire response, monitoring, community engagement, and the ability of protected areas to prevent deforestation and other threats.
- Tourism, ARPA, the Amazon Fund, and rising federal environmental budgets can help, but Brazil needs stable, transparent, long-term financing that matches the recurring cost of turning legal protection into management.

Carbon cowboys and unpaid pledges: Ex-Gabon environment minister Lee White on conservation in Africa
- In an interview with Mongabay, the former Gabon environment minister Lee White makes the case that the Congo Basin should be treated as “critical national infrastructure” to be protected for Africa’s future water and climate security.
- He also defends nuclear energy as a “necessary evil” to generate the energy that Africa needs while avoiding catastrophic climate and water crises across the continent.
- White says weak governance, not mining itself, is the main driver of environmental destruction linked to mineral extraction.
- He criticizes the current carbon finance system, saying developed countries failed to honor their pledges to pay developing ones like Gabon for protecting their forests.

Ocean philanthropy: small sums for a vast domain
- Ocean philanthropy remains small relative to the scale of the ocean itself, accounting for well under 1% of global charitable giving despite steady growth over the past decade.
- Funding is concentrated among a small group of foundations and continues to focus heavily on marine science, habitat protection, and fisheries, though climate-related ocean funding has risen sharply in recent years.
- Most ocean conservation funding needs lie not in creating protected areas, but in the long-term costs of management and enforcement, with current spending far below estimated requirements.
- Philanthropic funding often plays a catalytic role by supporting early-stage research, policy work, and financing mechanisms such as blue bonds and debt-for-nature swaps that can unlock larger pools of public and private capital.

Indonesia should avoid controversial programs to fund conservation (commentary)
- Protecting nature is often a struggle due to funding gaps, which governments across developing countries are struggling to close.
- While officials may pursue plans to fund conservation with programs like carbon credits, as in the case of Way Kambas National Park in Indonesia, these may ironically impact critical habitats for threatened species.
- “Indonesia should not be overconfident that it can close the gap by using controversial programs,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Can listening to a forest reveal whether it is ecologically healthy?
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Researchers have been using sound to study ecosystems for years. A study from ETH Zürich uses it to examine Costa Rica’s payment for ecosystem services program, reports Mongabay’s Abhishyant Kidangoor. Giacomo Delgado, a doctoral researcher, compares the method […]
Listening to forests reveals signs of recovery beyond tree cover
- Scientists have deployed acoustic monitoring techniques to measure the success of a forest protection mechanism in Costa Rica.
- Using more than 16,000 hours of audio data, scientists found that the payments for ecosystem services (PES) initiative in Costa Rica has helped recover biodiversity in naturally regenerated forests.
- On comparing the soundscapes, scientists found that naturally regenerated forests sound more similar to protected forests than to pastures.

Indigenous & community leaders say, ‘secure forest financing with us, not for us’ (commentary)
- With the expansion of government forest protection programs like REDD+ in recent years, Indigenous communities are increasingly asking if these initiatives boost their autonomy and benefits, or repeat old patterns of exclusion.
- These programs’ success will increasingly depend on the full participation of their peoples in the process that determines how benefits and revenues from these transactions are shared, three Indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders write in a new op-ed.
- “We believe the path forward is clear: climate policy must be built with communities, not for them,” they say.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

A South African reserve shows how carbon can catalyze rewilding conservation
- Managers have spent decades expanding Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in South Africa to its present 118,000-hectare (292,000-acre) size and bringing native species to the former livestock rangelands that have been incorporated into the reserve.
- In addition to providing a home for wildlife species at the high-end safari reserve, Tswalu is also measuring the impact on soil carbon stores in the dry savanna ecosystem.
- Research has shown that careful application of rewilding can potentially bring carbon benefits, effectively addressing biodiversity loss and climate change together, though the results depend on contexts and the complex dynamics of soil ecosystems.
- Tswalu has begun selling carbon credits, which it says will help fund continued conservation on the reserve.

‘We will not know what we lost’: Conservation fallout a year after USAID shutdown
When then-U.S. president John F . Kennedy created the United States Agency for International Development in 1961, it was meant primarily to administer health and food aid around the world. In the decades since, USAID expanded to become one of the world’s largest financial contributors to conservation, providing nearly $400 million annually before the end […]
Local communities are conservation’s most undervalued asset (commentary)
- Conservationists will gather this week for the 5th Business of Conservation Congress in Nairobi, and one talking point there will be focusing finance toward local communities, since that is not only important for achieving equity but also a practical strategy for achieving sustainable and successful outcomes.
- Although community-led conservation programs are genuinely shown to be more efficient, that advantage should also extend to conservation finance.
- But if conservation finance does not shift, and if communities and the organizations that serve them are not brought in as partners even as biodiversity losses continue, the authors of a new op-ed argue that “the trajectory we are on will not change.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Agroforestry offers market-based way to boost Amazon rains & farmer incomes (analysis)
- Since the 1970s, Brazil has cleared a large amount of Amazon Rainforest, and the consequences extend beyond biodiversity loss, carbon emissions and social disruption, because the forest generates its own weather.
- Continued deforestation could push the system past a tipping point where the Amazon can no longer sustain its rainfall regime, threatening the continent’s productive capacity and the economic livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.
- The economic opportunity that can change this is agroforestry systems that reforest areas to produce global commodities that can also comply with Brazil’s Forest Code, which requires private properties in the Amazonian region to maintain native vegetation on 80% of their landholdings.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Biodiversity bonds can work, but their design flaws must be fixed (commentary)
- While development aid is falling globally, many megadiverse countries are juggling debt stress that pushes conservation to the margins.
- Numerous financial instruments have arisen to fund conservation, with an equally diverse set of outcomes and an array of opaque metrics. Meanwhile, biodiversity bonds are clear about what success looks like, and how it will be proven.
- “Done right, these instruments can fund conservation at meaningful scale; done wrong, they financialize nature and entrench inequity,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Financing biodiversity: Lisa Miller on investing in nature
- Lisa Miller’s path into biodiversity finance grew out of an early fascination with animals, later shaped by training in zoology, museum science, and science communication in Australia.
- After nearly two decades working in technology, she began asking how capital, business models, and execution could be redirected toward slowing and reversing biodiversity loss.
- That question led to the creation of the Wedgetail Foundation, which blends philanthropy, investment, and direct land stewardship to support conservation and restoration in practice.
- In January 2026, Lisa Miller spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler about her journey, her approach to investing in nature, and what it takes to make biodiversity work endure.

What’s next for the major pledge to halt & reverse Congo Basin deforestation?
- In January, high-level policymakers came together to discuss the implementation of the recent Belém Call to Action for the Congo Basin Forests, a $2.5 billion pledge to conserve the world’s second-largest rainforest.
- Central topics included the need for innovative funding approaches, such as moving beyond traditional donors in the Global North, direct funding for communities, the need to fund projects that link forest conservation with socioeconomic development and how to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030.
- For this commitment to work, where other environmental pledges have failed, panelists said there must be clear, traceable financing channels, strong institutional coordination, strong legal frameworks and genuine engagement of civil society and local actors.
- The Congo Basin, covering several Central African countries in a wide green canopy, is facing several threats, chronic underfunding — and attention — for its conservation.

Conservation programs must embrace causal evidence when evaluating impact (commentary)
- A couple of seminal studies published almost 20 years ago found that conservationists needed to start examining whether their actions were actually causing the desired effects.
- Assessing conservation projects through a causal lens takes more effort but can ultimately be a big piece of the puzzle that helps practitioners identify cause-and-effect relationships between various factors.
- “What’s needed now is making causal evaluation standard practice rather than the exception. With biodiversity in crisis, we can’t afford to keep guessing whether our actions work,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

In the Brazilian Amazon, community conservation success comes with a cost: Study
- In Brazil’s western Amazon, community-led efforts to protect the pirarucu, one of the world’s largest freshwater fish, bring conservation benefits that extend into upland ecosystems.
- A study in Nature Sustainability found that by patrolling oxbow lakes along the Juruá River, communities effectively protect a mean area 86 times larger than the lakes they directly monitor, making this the largest community-based conservation initiative in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Local families bear the full economic burden of conservation efforts; surveillance represents 32% of total costs and reduces community income by 21%. Researchers say that using payments for environmental services would help ease pressure on communities.

The year in rainforests 2025: Deforestation fell; the risks did not
- This analysis explores key storylines, examining the political, environmental, and economic dynamics shaping tropical rainforests in 2025, with attention to how policy, markets, and climate stress increasingly interact rather than operate in isolation.
- Across major forest regions, deforestation slowed in some places but degradation, fire, conflict, and legacy damage continued to erode forest health, often in ways that standard metrics fail to capture.
- Global responses remained uneven: conservation finance shifted toward fiscal and market-based tools, climate diplomacy deferred hard decisions, and enforcement outcomes depended heavily on institutional capacity and credibility rather than formal commitments alone.
- Taken together, the year showed that forest outcomes now hinge less on single interventions than on whether governments and institutions can sustain continuity—of funding, governance, science, and oversight—under mounting environmental and political strain.

When abandoned conservation projects are counted as progress, what are we protecting? (commentary)
- An issue that receives little attention from conservationists and funders is the quiet abandonment of conservation projects after their high-profile launches.
- New evidence suggests that over one-third of conservation initiatives are abandoned within a few years of launch; if these eventual failures are not reported, they tend to be assumed to remain active.
- “Conservation must be reframed as a long-term commitment. Until the community confronts the uncomfortable truth that starting new projects holds no value unless existing ones are sustained, billions of dollars will continue to be spent on initiatives that provide the illusion of progress while nature continues its decline,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Mexico is inflating its climate spending by billions of dollars. Here’s how.
- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took office last year touting her climate science background, yet continues to neglect renewable energy and conservation while subsidizing state-owned oil company Pemex.
- Funds her government earmarked for climate change and a renewable energy transition are actually going to infrastructure, oil and gas, and other projects unrelated to the environment, a review of the 2026 budget shows.
- In one case, more than $40 million for a train line is counted twice but only spent once, misrepresenting how much money the government is dedicating to the environment.

New financial tools boost traditional bioeconomy projects in the Amazon
- The Brazil Restoration and Bioeconomy Finance Coalition (BRB FC), an alliance of NGOs, funders and financial institutions, aims to mobilize $10 billion by 2030 to support Indigenous and traditional communities-led enterprises.
- By supporting these initiatives, BRB FC and other projects seek to help communities restore millions of hectares of degraded land in the Amazon rainforest, the Cerrado savanna, the semiarid Caatinga, and the Atlantic Forest.
- Existing conventional financial systems often exclude grassroots initiatives due to rigid, centralized requirements that clash with local governance and realities.
- With the shift championed by BRB FC, proponents say low-bureaucracy funding models can effectively reach and empower forest-based communities while supporting the bioeconomy.

Small grants can empower the next generation of conservationists
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Paul Barnes, who leads the Zoological Society of London’s EDGE of Existence program, has spent the past few years listening to the frustrations of early-career conservationists. The stories are rarely about fieldwork itself. They’re about making rent, juggling […]
What was achieved for Indigenous peoples at COP30?
- The two-week COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, saw the largest global participation of Indigenous leaders in the conference’s history.
- With the adoption of measures like the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment, a $1.8 billion funding pledge, and the launch of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), the summit resulted in historic commitments to secure land tenure rights for Indigenous peoples, local communities and Afro-descendant people.
- Yet despite these advances, sources say frustrations grew as negotiators failed to establish pathways for rapid climate finance for adaptation, loss and damage, or to create road maps for reversing deforestation and phasing out fossil fuels.
- While some pledges appear ambitious, Indigenous delegates say effective implementation of the pledges will depend on government transparency and accountable use of funds.

Big finance still funds deforestation, 10 years after Paris pact
A new report by the Forests & Finance Coalition finds that despite years of voluntary climate commitments, banks and other financial institutions have continued to increase their investments in companies linked to deforestation. The value of investments in these companies — in industries such as beef, soy, palm oil and paper — has increased by […]
Norway’s multibillion-dollar bet on forests: An interview with Minister Eriksen
- Two major forest finance initiatives announced at COP30 — the Brazil-led Tropical Forest Forever Fund (TFFF), backed by $6.7 billion, and the newly launched Canopy Trust — signal renewed global attention on the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest rainforest.
- Canopy Trust, formally launched Nov. 17, relies on blended public–private finance and has already raised $93 million, with a goal of mobilizing $1 billion by 2030 to support sustainable enterprises and early-stage, high-impact forest projects in the Congo Basin.
- Norway, the largest contributor to both the TFFF and Canopy Trust, sees the new fund as complementary to existing mechanisms like CAFI — rewarding low deforestation and strengthening sustainable production. One of its key functions is to de-risk investments in local small and medium-sized enterprises, which might otherwise find it hard to attract private investors.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment Andreas Bjelland Eriksen said the ultimate test will be whether these mechanisms finally deliver what communities demand: direct access to finance, local ownership and tangible economic benefits on the ground.

Conservation can emphasize human well-being to navigate its current funding crisis (commentary)
- Cuts in funding, weakening support from governments, and disinformation are all driving a current crisis for conservation.
- But these challenges need not hold conservation programs back, the authors of a new op-ed with decades of experience at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other development programs argue, and suggest three strategies that can work.
- “Leaning into the human well-being outcomes of conservation can also shift the pervasive and harmful view that conserving nature is primarily an environmental undertaking rather than a cornerstone of sustainable development,” they write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

It’s time to end the carbon offset era, COP30 scientists & communities say (commentary)
- The COP30 Science Council and Indigenous delegates, activists and local communities in Belém this week argued that forests are not offsets and that the world cannot simply trade its way out of the climate crisis.
- Carbon offsetting programs have been under intense scrutiny for years, and a broad coalition of COP30 attendees and advisors say that this is the moment to move forward on climate finance with greater effectiveness and equity.
- “This is the Amazon COP. If it ends with a decision that ignores Indigenous rights and props up offset markets that science says cannot work, it will squander the moral clarity of this moment,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

With COP30, Indigenous Brazilians strive for new resources to protect nature
- Less than 1% of global climate funding reaches Indigenous peoples and traditional groups, despite their leading roles in environmental conservation, particularly in the Amazon, according to reports.
- In addition to a lack of access to conventional financing options, many traditional initiatives remain isolated by bureaucratic hurdles and struggle to adapt typical funding requirements to their communal dynamics.
- In response to these challenges, several Indigenous and traditional-led funds are seeking solutions. Across Brazil, organizations are working to align financial procedures with the reality of local communities, aiming to ensure the autonomy of their representatives.
- As Brazil hosts the COP30 climate summit, leaders of these Indigenous funds see the event as a window of opportunity to draw the world’s attention and seek new routes for proper investment.

Small grants are key to a successful next generation of conservationists (commentary)
- Large numbers of early-career conservationists and fledgling organizations are poised to implement solutions to the biodiversity crisis, but the prevailing funding logic isn’t adapting fast enough to support them.
- Small grants can make a huge difference in this moment, as they are fast, flexible and comprehensible to people on the ground doing local conservation work, especially when unhinged from onerous restrictions and reporting requirements.
- “We must support the next generation of conservation leaders to ensure they have viable career paths that do not come at the expense of burnout,” a new op-ed argues. “Small grants must step forward, not as charity, but as infrastructure for resilience.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Donors renew $1.8 billion pledge for Indigenous land rights
The governments of four countries, along with several philanthropies and donors, have renewed a $1.8 billion pledge over the next five years to help recognize, manage and protect Indigenous and other traditional community land. The Forest and Land Tenure Pledge, first made in Glasgow at the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference, provided $1.86 billion in […]
How a ‘green gold rush’ in the Amazon led to dubious carbon deals on Indigenous lands
- A Mongabay investigation has found that companies without the financial or technical expertise signed deals with Indigenous communities in Brazil and Bolivia, covering millions of hectares of forest, for carbon and biodiversity credits.
- Many of the communities involved say they were rushed into signing, never had the chance to give consent, and didn’t understand what they were signing up to or even who with.
- Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency has warned of legal insecurity and lack of standards in carbon credit initiatives, and an inquiry is underway — even as the businessmen involved target more than 1.7 million hectares in the tri-border area between Brazil, Bolivia and Peru.
- Two and a half years since the deals were made, Brazil’s Public Ministry has called for them to be annulled, following Mongabay’s repeated requests to the ministry for updates.

To fix the climate, simply empower Indigenous people (commentary)
- While nations search for complex climate solutions at this year’s COP30 climate meeting in Belém, a simple yet powerful answer is just waiting in the wings: empowering the world’s most powerful protectors of forests and nature – Indigenous people – and we must let them point the way, a new op-ed argues.
- Ending fossil fuel use and transforming global food systems are essential but expensive and take time, but nations like Indonesia can score an immediate climate win by enacting its long debated Indigenous Peoples Bill, for example.
- “Humanity seeks an answer, but the answer has always been here,” the Sira Declaration states. “The answer is us.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

COP30 tropical forest fund may drive debt and deforestation, groups warn
A new global fund meant to reward tropical countries for protecting forests could instead drive deforestation and deepen debt in the developing world, civil society groups warn. The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), launched Nov. 6 in Belém, Brazil, ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, aims to raise $125 billion and promises to pay […]
Brazil launches fund tying forest cash to steep deforestation penalties
Brazil officially launched a new financial market fund, called the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, or TFFF, at a Nov. 6 event ahead of the COP30 climate summit it will host in Belém. Countries with significant amounts of tropical forest cover can receive up to $4 per hectare ($1.62 per acre) of standing forest per year […]
Indigenous delegates prepare for COP30 with focus on justice, land and finance
- The 2025 U.N. climate conference, COP30, will run from Nov. 10-21 in Belém, Brazil, and is expected to host the largest participation of Indigenous peoples in the conference series’ history, with more than 3,000 Indigenous delegates registered.
- Mongabay spoke with some of the delegates from Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific about their expectations for the conference and their objectives.
- They’re calling for recognition of Indigenous lands as a climate solution, a just energy transition, protection for forest defenders, and financial pledges that ensure at least 20% of forest conservation funds be directed to Indigenous and local communities.
- COP30 is expected to launch initiatives such as the Belém Action Mechanism for a just transition and the Tropical Forest Forever Facility. In the lead up to the conference, governments and donors also announced major commitments to recognize customary lands and provide funding support land rights.

Climate finance must reach Indigenous communities at COP30 & beyond (commentary)
- Indigenous and local communities protect 36% of the world’s intact tropical forests, yet receive less than 1% of international climate finance — a contradiction that threatens global climate goals and leaves the most effective forest guardians without the resources they need.
- As the COP30 climate summit in the Amazon draws near, pressure is mounting to get funding directly into the hands of Indigenous and local community organizations who are the frontline defenders of the world’s rainforests.
- “As billions of dollars in climate finance will be discussed or even decided upon at COP30 in Brazil, the priority must be to get resources directly to Indigenous and local communities who have safeguarded forests for generations,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Wildlife charities a third of the way to buying key UK nature refuge
A conservation alliance in the U.K. has raised nearly one-third of the 30 million pounds ($39 million) it needs to buy land in northeastern England to turn into a refuge for wildlife and local communities. The land, known as the Rothbury Estate, is roughly the size of the Greek capital of Athens, at 3,839 hectares […]
Beyond deforestation: redesigning how we protect and value tropical forests (analysis)
- Following his earlier essay tracing possible futures for the world’s forests, Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler turns from diagnosis to design—asking what concrete interventions could still avert collapse. This piece explores how governance, finance, and stewardship might evolve in a second act for tropical forests.
- The essay argues that lasting protection depends structural reform: securing Indigenous land rights, treating governance as infrastructure, and creating steady finance that outlasts election cycles and aid projects.
- Butler also examines overlooked levers—from restoring degraded lands and valuing forests’ local cooling effects to rethinking “bioeconomies” and building regional cooperation across borders. Each points toward a shift from reactive conservation to deliberate, sustained design.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

State-NGO collaboration expands protection for Patagonia’s biodiversity hotspot
- A new provincial park in the province of Chubut aims to conserve one of Argentina’s most biodiverse stretches of coastline.
- The park is based on a conservation model that involves an NGO buying up private land and then donating it back to the provincial government in return for new legal protections.
- The park will complement existing legislation and the area’s existing status as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
- Sustainable, low-impact tourism and a no-take fishing zone, which will support the local shrimp industry, are both set to give the region an economic boost.

COP26 pledge to support Indigenous & local forest tenure was just met. What was learned?
- The $1.7 billion pledge to support Indigenous peoples and local communities’ land rights made at the 2021 U.N. climate conference has been met one year ahead of schedule.
- Sources told Mongabay that the pledge led to an increase in funding for Indigenous peoples and local communities’ tenure and guardianship, but direct funding to these groups still remained low.
- The pledge succeeded in meeting its goals thanks to the continuous coordination between donors, said stakeholders, and funding patterns shifted over the years to increase direct funding to Indigenous peoples and local communities, as well as to groups in Asia.
- Stakeholders said future pledges must involve early and consistent dialogue with communities, support for the rights of forest defenders, simplified processes and reduced administrative barriers for more direct funding, as well as greater inclusion of women and youth.

Navigating conservation’s crisis (commentary)
- Conservation is facing a convergence of crises: accelerating ecological decline, weakened institutions, disinformation-fueled information breakdowns, and mounting threats to frontline defenders. These pressures interact, compounding the difficulty of protecting nature and people.
- To endure, the sector must adapt its financing and design models to what governments can sustain, treat information as infrastructure, and build unconventional coalitions that align conservation with livelihoods, public health, and local leadership.
- Resilience also depends on protecting the people doing the work and adopting “optimism as a method” — disciplined, evidence-based approaches that link effort to tangible outcomes, tell small stories of progress, and resist fatalism.
- The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Norway fund drops Eramet over Indonesia mine threatening forests, Indigenous tribe
- Norway’s $1.6 trillion government pension fund is divesting its $6.8 million stake in French miner Eramet after its ethics council found “unacceptable risk” of severe environmental damage and human rights violations at the PT Weda Bay Nickel mine the company operates in Halmahera, Indonesia.
- Weda Bay Nickel sits in the Wallacea Biodiversity Hotspot and has already cleared about 2,700 hectares (6,700 acres) of rainforest since 2019, far exceeding its plan, threatening endemic species and risking extinctions before they’re documented.
- Weda Bay Nickel sits in the Wallacea Biodiversity Hotspot and has already cleared about 2,700 hectares (6,700 acres) of rainforest since 2019, far exceeding its plan, threatening endemic species and risking extinctions before they’re documented.
- The case highlights growing investor scrutiny over whether nickel for electric vehicle batteries and other clean-energy technologies can be sourced without destroying tropical forests or violating Indigenous rights.

The carbon market paradox: Steve Zwick on why financing forests is more complicated than it looks
- Steve Zwick’s career has traced the intersection of climate, finance, and media, from Chicago trading pits to international business reporting, Deutsche Welle, Ecosystem Marketplace, and now his Bionic Planet podcast and Carbon Paradox, where he focuses on clarifying the complexities of carbon markets and REDD+.
- He emphasizes that carbon markets are built on probabilities, not certainties, and criticizes both media and advocacy for flattening nuance into oversimplified verdicts. For him, methods evolve through revision, guardrails, and conservative accounting, with avoidance of deforestation often delivering the greatest climate impact.
- Zwick frames forest carbon as payment for services protecting a global commons, not charity, and insists that best practice must be community-led. He warns that skewed scrutiny and polarized narratives risk sidelining a tool that, while imperfect, can mobilize resources quickly until deeper emissions cuts take hold.
- Zwick was interview by Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in September 2025.

Brazil’s market-based forest fund gets new endorsers ahead of COP30 debut
- The Tropical Forest Finance Facility (TFFF) initiative is expected to be launched at Brazil’s COP30, in November, and has received attention due to potential financial support from China.
- In July and August this year, BRICS leaders and Amazonian cooperating countries endorsed a Brazil-led initiative that seeks to reward states and investors in exchange for tropical forest preservation.
- Despite bringing a new formula for a much-awaited solution to climate financing, the TFFF was criticized in a recent report as being a market-based approach that could monetize ecosystem services, ignoring the intrinsic value of forests and biodiversity.

New report recommends ways to increase women’s access to funding
- In a new report, the global coalitions Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and the Women in the Global South Alliance (WiGSA) analyzed the structural challenges that Indigenous, Afro-descendant and local community women’s organizations face in accessing funding.
- The report found that most women’s organizations part of the WiGSA network face significant barriers to securing direct funding and experience alarming deficits in long-term, flexible and core funding to operate, among other challenges.
- Its authors share several recommendations to address the structural challenges women face and increase their access to funding, including the redesign of funding mechanisms and a transformation of the donor-partner relationship.

The honesty, humor and wonder of ‘Nature’s Last Dance,’ from Natalie Kyriacou
I recently received an advance copy of Natalie Kyriacou’s widely praised new book, Nature’s Last Dance: Tales of Wonder in an Age of Extinction, and found myself agreeing with its many high-profile fans, like Paris climate agreement architect Christiana Figueres, who calls it a “lyrical call to awaken our love for the wild before the […]
Norway pledges more direct funding to support Indigenous peoples in Brazil
- A program managed by the Norwegian Embassy in Brazil has recently changed its funding strategy to provide more direct finance to Indigenous-led funds, rather than through NGOs and multilateral agencies.
- By 2026, the program plans to invest 90% of its resources directly with Indigenous-led funds and associations through its Indigenous support program, NIPP.
- This is more than double the percentage of direct funding in 2025, 42%, and more than four times higher than in 2024.
- Internationally and in Brazil, Indigenous organizations are increasingly vocal about receiving direct funding to conserve their territories, protected areas, natural resources and traditional knowledge.

Unrestricted funding is key for frontline conservation groups: Mongabay podcast
The U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) works to link funders with community-based conservation groups, ensuring that much-needed resources are reaching the frontlines. In a Mongabay Newscast episode in July, Jean-Gaël “JG” Collomb, CEO of WCN, advocates for giving more unrestricted funding to local groups who know the environment best, allowing them to decide how to […]
Reversing deforestation relies on resource ownership (commentary)
- The transition from deforestation to reforestation will rely on local resource ownership, because this ownership is an unavoidable prerequisite for the financing of carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services provided by forests, the authors of a new op-ed argue.
- “From Himalayan foothills to reforested cattle ranches in Central America, individuals and communities that own tree-covered land are being paid to safeguard forest ecosystem services. But even where conservation payments are not on the table, property rights, alone, make environmental improvement more rewarding for those individuals and communities,” they write.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

How a quiet climate finance model is funneling money directly to communities
- For more than 10 years, the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) has supported Indigenous peoples and local communities to protect their forests through its direct funding mechanism, known as the Dedicated Grant Mechanism (DGM).
- The DGM’s unique governance model is designed and managed by the Indigenous peoples and local communities themselves.
- So far, CIF has provided $70 million to the DGM through its Forest Investment Program (FIP) and an additional $40 million has been approved for its Nature, People and Climate (NPC) program.
- While the DGM has led to positive impacts, expansion to other countries has, in some cases, been difficult and sources said the mechanism takes time to set up and communities can still struggle with the technical language.

How much does it cost to restore a mangrove forest?
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Mangroves, the amphibious forests that fringe tropical and subtropical coastlines, are ecological powerhouses. They buffer communities against storm surges, support fisheries, and sequester carbon at rates that rival their terrestrial counterparts. Yet despite growing recognition of their value, […]
Small island nations provide big environmental solutions but need finance partners (commentary)
- Small island nations offer the world powerful environmental solutions — from “blue” climate finance innovations to marine conservation — but they need the international community to match their ambition with fairness and support.
- Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne argues that for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like his, navigating uncertainty is nothing new, but these days that must be increasingly tempered with fairness, as sea levels rise and marine ecosystems struggle due to a climate crisis that they did little to abet.
- “We face growing inequities, particularly around access to ocean resources and climate finance. Between 2000 and 2023, SIDS suffered more than $30 billion in losses from climate-related disasters, yet we are locked out of concessional financing due to narrow economic metrics. This is not just unsustainable — it is unjust,” he writes.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

This nonprofit connects frontline conservationists with funders, catalyzing impact
Jean-Gaël “JG” Collomb says community-based conservation organizations know best how to tackle the complex conservation challenges unique to their ecosystems. However, they’re also among the most underserved in terms of funding of all stripes. On this week’s episode of Mongabay’s podcast, Collomb explains how his nonprofit, Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), is working to change that. […]
A Kenya marine biodiversity credit program restores mangroves — and livelihoods
- The decline of mangroves significantly weakens Kenya’s coastal protection, leaving shorelines susceptible to erosion, storm surges and rising sea levels, disrupting marine ecosystems, depleting fish stocks, leading to reduced biodiversity — and lost livelihoods for locals.
- A U.S.-based organization called Seatrees is working with the local Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC) and residents of Marereni to restore and protect coastal and marine ecosystems as a natural solution to climate change.
- Since 2024, Seatrees has offered donors the option of buying $3 “biodiversity blocks,” each of which represents a single tangible conservation action: planting one mangrove tree on site in Marereni.
- The work goes beyond just planting trees, as community members turn mangrove restoration into a livelihood by establishing and maintaining nurseries — and, in some cases, starting side businesses with the income.

After USAID cut, Ethiopia’s largest community conservation area aims for self-sufficiency
- The abrupt end of USAID funding has disrupted conservation progress in Ethiopia’s Tama Community Conservation Area (TCCA), where community-led efforts had curbed illegal hunting and led to an increase in elephant and giraffe populations.
- In response, local leaders and communities are working to become financially self-sufficient by establishing income-generating initiatives.
- But progress is hindered by the lack of a functioning office, expert staff, and basic operational resources.
- While experts recognize the area’s strong potential for ecotourism and community benefit, they warn that poverty, conflict and climate challenges, combined with weak infrastructure, make external technical and financial support critical for a successful transition to self-reliance.

First congress of forest basin leaders results in call for direct financing
- Participants at the world’s first global congress of Indigenous and local communities from forest basins seek to increase direct financing to community forest conservation.
- Community-led organizations are scaling up and creating their own funding mechanisms to directly access financing for climate, biodiversity and environmental protection.
- Little funding goes directly to Indigenous peoples and local communities, for reasons that span lack of community capacity and donor trust to financial requirements.
- In the run-up to the U.N. climate conference, COP30, in November 2025, organizations are calling for funding pledges to include community forest conservation.

Vatican-backed report calls for global debt relief amid climate crisis
A commission appointed by the late Pope Francis has released a new report highlighting the urgent need to address global debt, which has hindered sustainable development and climate action. The report was authored by the Jubilee Commission, which includes a group of 30 experts including Nobel laureate and U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz, and Martín Guzmán, […]
Protecting Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains means putting communities at the center of conservation
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Conservation efforts often falter on the fault line between ecological ambition and human reality. A new initiative in southern Tanzania seeks to bridge that divide, reports contributor Ryan Truscott for Mongabay. The Udzungwa Landscape Strategy (ULS), launched in […]
It’s time to pay the true value of tropical forest conservation (commentary)
- Conserving the world’s tropical forests requires large-scale and predictable finance, a new op-ed by Brazilian officials argue in making their case for the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), a finance regime that will be discussed at this year’s U.N. climate summit (COP30) in their nation.
- The TFFF would pay a fixed price per hectare of tropical forest conserved or restored, providing positive incentives aligned with national fiscal planning via a funding model that blends public investment and private market borrowing.
- “The time to act boldly for our forests is now. The TFFF is not only possible — it is essential. We are calling on the world to join us,” they write.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Mongabay investigation of sketchy forest finance schemes wins honorable mention
Mongabay contributor Glòria Pallarès earned an honorable mention in the 2025 Trace Prize for Investigative Reporting, announced May 28, for her investigation into how Indigenous communities in Peru, Bolivia and Panama were misled into handing over their rights to millions of hectares of forest. The January 2024 investigation, “False claims of U.N. backing see Indigenous […]
Real-world return on climate adaption investments wildly underestimated, report finds
- Since 2015’s Paris climate agreement, poor, climate-vulnerable nations have made a case for wealthy, industrialized nations (responsible for most climate change) to pay hundreds of billions for climate adaption and resilience. But while making big promises, actual funding by wealthy nations has repeatedly fallen far short of what’s needed.
- One possible reason: The real-world value of adaption and resilience projects has long been grossly underestimated due to incomplete data. A new study uses a novel methodology to put a comprehensive dollar value on such projects. It found that every $1 invested yields $10.50 in environmental and social benefits over a decade.
- Known as the “triple dividend of resilience,” this new methodology counts not only avoided climate change damages, but also economic gains (such as improved infrastructure and job creation) as well as broader environmental enhancements (improved public health and biodiversity protections, for example).
- It’s hoped this new analysis will offer policymakers and NGOs leverage at November’s COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, as they try to convince wealthy nations and financial institutions to unlock the many billions needed by vulnerable nations in adaption and resilience funding to weather escalating climate change impacts.

Latin American banks still slow to protect the environment, report finds
- Across Latin America, banks have failed to integrate sustainability regulations into lending, bond issuance and financial advisory services, according to a WWF sustainable finance assessment.
- WWF examined the policies of 22 banks across Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, and found that the countries’ financial sectors had largely failed to implement protections against nature-related risks, such as deforestation and biodiversity loss.
- Only six of the 22 banks have policies that acknowledge the “societal and economic risks” associated with environmental degradation, and just two of them have made net-zero carbon emission commitments for their lending portfolios.

The Tropical Forest Forever Facility needs more local and Indigenous focus (commentary)
- The new Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) aims to fund forest conservation by paying nations an annual fee of $4 for every hectare of forest they maintain.
- The fund’s launch is expected to be a major focal point of the COP30 climate summit in November, and the TFFF secretariat is currently negotiating many of its fine details, which are expected to be released at the end of June. A new briefing prepared by 40+ environmental, human rights and Indigenous organizations lays out their concerns about the TFFF’s equity issues, and describes how they should be tackled.
- “About 20% of the funds are expected to be allocated to Indigenous and local communities. This is a step in the right direction, but for the TFFF’s funding to reach its intended recipients, it must go directly to them, to the largest extent possible, rather than as in the current proposal, with payments being in the hands of national governments,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Study offers new tool to compare environmental impacts of crops
In a recently published study, researchers offer a new tool to compare how different crops affect the environment in different regions. Named PLANTdex, the tool assesses the environmental impact of a crop by considering five key indicators — greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater biodiversity loss, marine biodiversity loss, land biodiversity loss, and water resource depletion — […]
Brazil prosecutors dispute $175m Amazon Rainforest carbon credit deal
Brazilian prosecutors are calling for the cancellation of the largest carbon credit deal in the Amazon Rainforest, saying it breaks national law and risks harming Indigenous communities. The 1 billion real ($175 million) contract, signed last year by the state of Pará, promises to sell up to 12 million metric tons of forest-based carbon credits […]
Refocusing conservation funding on trust & community leadership after USAID freeze (commentary)
- The USAID funding freeze revealed a systemic vulnerability in global conservation finance: over-dependence on external donors and top-down funding models; yet community-led initiatives show that local stewardship, when resourced and trusted, leads to more resilient and inclusive conservation outcomes.
- A new op-ed calls for a shift toward trust-based philanthropy, participatory grant-making, and diversified funding models centered on local leadership and long-term ecological impact.
- “Conservation must not exist on the periphery of philanthropy or politics. It must be integrated into the core of how we structure societies, economies, and futures. Only then can it thrive, and not just because it is funded, but because it is fundamental,” the author argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Paying to prevent deforestation is positive & not ‘nothing’ (commentary)
- Should the world pay people to refrain from their destroying forests, a new commentary asks?
- There is something inherently uncomfortable about paying someone to do ‘nothing’ like not cut down their rainforest, but in reality, the value of these places’ ecosystem services and climate regulation is not much different from dividends shareholders earn by owning stocks.
- “By compensating landholders for the services their forests provide, we recognize their true value and offer a pragmatic response to deforestation, biodiversity loss, and climate change,” the author argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Why conservation research findings are rarely surprising
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. “We already knew that.” I frequently receive complaints from readers about findings in scientific papers being commonsense or obvious. And yes, it’s true: science often confirms what we’ve long suspected or seen in practice. By its nature, science […]
The currency of impact: Why nonprofit models might be the future of serious journalism
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. At a time when traditional news outlets are shedding reporters and chasing clicks, Mongabay is bucking the trend: it’s growing. One key, says David Martin, our director of philanthropy, is that Mongabay isn’t selling ads or stoking outrage […]
Why the nonprofit newsroom model is vital to Mongabay’s impact
At a time when media outlets are downsizing newsrooms and the audience for traditional news is in decline, Mongabay continues to grow thanks to its impact-driven, nonprofit model. Mongabay’s director of philanthropy, Dave Martin, joins the podcast this week to explain the philosophy behind Mongabay’s fundraising efforts, why the nonprofit model is essential for impact-driven […]
New strategy launched to protect Tanzanian biodiversity hotspot
- A conservation strategy for the next 20 years has been launched to protect Tanzania’s most biologically rich landscape.
- The Udzungwa Mountains are home to rare and endemic plants and animals, including a small population of kipunjis, a genus of monkeys only revealed to the world in 2006.
- Sustainable financing is being sought to fund the conservation strategy and boost livelihoods and social well-being in communities surrounding three core protected areas.
- A key part of the strategy will be the rollout of energy-efficient stoves, seen as a priority by local communities who depend on firewood and charcoal.

Indigenous community calls out Cambodian REDD+ project as tensions simmer in the Cardamoms
- Indigenous Chorng communities in Cambodia allege continued land restrictions and rights violations by Wildlife Alliance, the U.S.-based NGO running the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project that includes swaths of their farmlands and forest.
- The project was reinstated last September after a 14-month suspension to review the allegations, but concerns persist over unresolved land claims, restricted access to land, and lack of financial transparency.
- Locals have complained of intimidation, threats and economic hardship after losing access to their traditional farmland and struggling to sustain their livelihoods.
- The Cambodian government and Wildlife Alliance have denied the allegations yet continue to benefit from carbon credit sales, even as Indigenous communities are left without sufficient land or decision-making power.

Indigenous leaders optimistic after resumed U.N. biodiversity conference in Rome
- With nature finance always difficult to raise and sustain, Indigenous peoples and local communities may be the recipients of the most tangible progress to emerge from the resumed U.N. biodiversity conference, or COP16, in Rome in late February.
- In perhaps the most significant development from COP16, the creation of the Cali Fund and its launch last month could provide a steady flow of funds to communities worth hundreds of millions annually for programs and projects of their choosing.
- The Cali Fund aims to collect a small percentage of profits or revenue from corporations around the world that use digital sequence information (DSI) from nature’s genetics to develop commercial products.
- Indigenous peoples have been on a “path to unprecedented progress” after the first talks in Cali adopted a new program of work on traditional knowledge and their direct participation in negotiations, say sources.

Financing conservation of Central Asia’s endangered mammals on World Wildlife Day and every day (commentary)
- Central Asia’s fragile ecosystems, home to species like snow leopards and saiga antelopes, face growing threats from habitat loss, climate change and hunting, yet conservation remains critically underfunded.
- But financing mechanisms like payment for ecosystem services, ecotourism and even carbon markets could provide much-needed investment, though these require careful regulation and local adaptation.
- Public-private partnerships, standardized biodiversity metrics, and community-led conservation efforts are essential to attract funding, ensure accountability, and secure long-term ecological and economic benefits.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

An investment fund that pays out for nature? Mongabay podcast explains the TFFF
The Brazilian government in 2023 announced a novel funding mechanism to incentivize forest preservation: the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF). In an episode of Mongabay’s weekly podcast Newscast, host Mike DiGirolamo explored what experts think about the TFFF, what it can do, and what it can’t. Mongabay contributor Justin Catanoso, who has written previously […]
USAID funding freeze throws international conservation into disarray
U.S President Donald Trump and his senior adviser, tech billionaire Elon Musk, recently imposed a 90-day freeze on nearly all USAID projects. USAID is known for funding health and humanitarian projects globally. And as Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo reports, the agency also provides significant support for conservation projects, which are now reeling with uncertainty after some […]
UN biodiversity decision 16/2 is ‘unencumbered by economic thinking’ (analysis)
- This analysis by Joseph Henry Vogel at the Department of Economics, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras, was written in the wake of Decision 16/2 of the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which would govern corporate payment for use of genetic information that has been sequenced from the natural world (DSI).
- It explains how “bounded openness over natural information” is the most efficient and equitable way to ensure access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge, and for the sharing of resulting economic benefits of DSI with local and Indigenous communities.
- The author, who also served as advisor to the Ecuadorian delegation at CBD COP2 and COP9, argues that 16/2 is “unencumbered by economic thinking” but hopes that an ‘additional modality’ proposed to modify it will be vetted in preparation for COP17, which is scheduled for 2026 in Armenia.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

108 federal protected areas in Mexico remain without actual management plans
- A Mongabay analysis has found that almost half of Mexico’s 232 federally protected areas — 108 of them — do not have management plans.
- Among those without plans are protected areas that were decreed more than 50 years ago even though, by law, the environmental ministry has one year to publish plans after a decree is issued.
- Some National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) officials and researchers told Mongabay the backlog is due to funding issues, unrealistic timelines and a fault in the country’s application of international conservation policy.
- Without protected area management plans, park managers, conservationists and communities have no clear roadmap to guide them, and areas can remain vulnerable to threats and overexploitation.

Ecuador’s next debt-for-nature deal falls short of Indigenous involvement
- Following the success of its first debt-for-nature swap for the Galapagos, Ecuador received $460 million dollars that will be allocated to the conservation of the Amazon.
- The financial organizations involved in the ‘the Amazon Biocorridor Fund’ have publicized the involvement of Indigenous peoples in the process. However, Indigenous leaders have denied these claims and say they have not been involved in full participation.
- On a positive side, the conservation objectives were set based on scientific work by Ecuador’s National Institute of Biodiversity (INABIO), which identified the areas that need to be prioritized based on the richness of their biodiversity.
- The Amazon Biocorridor Fund is set to begin operating this year, and will do so under the supervision of civil society organizations, seeking transparency in the management of resources.

What does an NGO do when its funds are tied to human rights abuses? Interview with John Knox
- Conservation organizations supporting critical habitats and sustainable community initiatives can sometimes find themselves financially tied to serious human rights abuses.
- However, the path forward in terms of their funding, and that of the government agencies or private funders that financially support them, can be unclear.
- Mongabay speaks to John Knox, human rights expert and former U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, about how organizations and donors should navigate funding issues when they learn about human rights abuses, as well as the specific approaches they can take in different situations.
- Completely pulling out all funding from a protected area is a last resort, said Knox, but if proactive steps to address human rights abuses or using leverage with government partners fail, NGOs and funders directly causing violations should consider disengaging completely.

Mexico misses one-year deadline to submit new protected areas’ management plans
- Exactly one year ago, Mexico announced 20 new protected areas covering roughly 2.3 million hectares (5.7 million acres) across the country.
- According to Mexican law, the environment ministry has one year to publish a protected area’s management plan after a decree is issued, but Mongabay found that none of the 20 protected areas have management plans yet.
- Scientists, conservationists and communities have been pushing for these plans to be published, concerned that the absence of a roadmap means these areas are still vulnerable to threats and overexploitation.
- Some National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) officials and researchers told Mongabay the delay was due to a change in Mexico’s leadership, funding concerns, a historic backlog and other issues.

Brazil’s ‘innovative’ reforestation agenda discussed in Davos (commentary)
- At the World Economic Forum 2025 in Davos this week, a coalition of leaders from across Brazilian sectors will discuss the integrated, pre-competitive agenda needed to scale forest restoration.
- Forest restoration is a key part of successful climate action, providing carbon removal, biodiversity protection and sustainable economic growth, but it requires immediate investment and action, the authors of a new op-ed write.
- Brazil’s coordinated approach across business, finance, and conservation sectors has resulted in approximately $528 million in restoration investments in the past 18 months, setting a global example for impactful forest restoration and climate action.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Mining in a forest conservation site clouds Republic of Congo’s carbon credit scheme
- The Republic of Congo set up a REDD+ program in the Sangha and Likouala regions, aiming to reduce deforestation and store carbon from 2020 through to 2024.
- However, in the Sangha region alone, the country’s mining minister has issued at least 79 semi-industrial gold mining and exploration permits since the project began.
- Scientists reviewing images of these mining activities condemn the “reckless” destruction of biodiversity.
- The government says the program stored more than 1.5 million metric tons of carbon in 2020, for which it expects to be paid more than $8 million from the World Bank.

The year in tropical rainforests: 2024
- The year 2024 saw significant developments in tropical rainforest conservation, deforestation, and degradation. While progress in some regions provided glimmers of hope, systemic challenges and emerging threats highlighted the fragility of these ecosystems.
- Although a complete comparison of tropical forest loss in 2024 with previous years is not yet available, there are currently no indications that this year’s loss will be markedly higher. A sharp decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon—partially offset by widespread forest fires—suggests the overall rate of loss may be lower.
- This analysis explores key storylines, examining the political, environmental, and economic dynamics shaping tropical rainforests in 2024.

Brazil’s big push for tropical forest funding gets support for 2025 debut
- As host of 2025’s COP30 climate summit, Brazil is working on two complementary finance mechanisms, hoping to reward tropical forest conservation worldwide. Both rely on the concept of investing money and using profits for forest protection.
- Twelve countries, including Brazil, are currently discussing the Tropical Forest Finance Facility (TFFF) framework, which is expected to be concluded by next January.
- Its sister initiative, the Tropical Forest Mechanism (TFM), proposes that highly polluting industries donate a minimum fraction of their annual earnings to forest conservation.

Can the Cali Fund provide a rights-based remedy for biopiracy? (commentary)
- One ongoing element of wealth extraction from the Global South that remains largely unaddressed – biopiracy – requires a human rights-based response, a new op-ed argues.
- Defined as the unauthorized use of genetic resources and traditional knowledge of Indigenous communities and developing nations for profit without their consent, a remedy to biopiracy was recently agreed to at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Colombia.
- Can the Cali Fund – which obliges corporations that profit from biodiversity to contribute to its conservation – be a step in the right direction, the authors ask?
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

What’s the TFFF? A forest finance tool ‘like no other’ shows potential
In 2023, at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, the Brazilian government proposed a new funding mechanism to help tropical nations keep their forests standing. They called it the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), and its incentive is relatively simple: using satellite monitoring in participating nations to determine which ones have preserved their forests, and […]
Climate finance must empower grassroots conservation in Africa & beyond (commentary)
- “In the wake of COP29, which ended with developed economies begrudgingly committing to increase climate funding for developing countries to $300 billion, we must ask: will any of this funding get to those on the ground who are critical to the climate solution?”
- Small, African-led conservation organizations offer a powerful, cost-effective approach to climate action like in Madagascar, where grassroots organizations fill critical gaps by addressing the local dimensions of climate change, which are often overlooked in high-level strategies.
- By channeling climate finance to grassroots organizations like these, we can ensure that this path is not just paved with promises, but with sustainable and locally driven solutions, a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Climate financing should come from oil and gas ‘super’ profits, study says
- Oil and gas companies have the ability to become a significant source of climate financing, a new study in Climate Policy argues.
- The study looked at oil and gas profits from 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine spiked energy prices across the globe, boosting realized companies’ earnings by 65%, or around $495 billion.
- If governments had imposed an additional 30% tax on the profits of private oil and gas companies, it would have raised $147 billion, the study said.
- Climate financing was the focus of the COP 29 climate conference, which only managed to come up with $300 billion in annual support for developing countries.

In Colombia, a simple fencing fix offers a win-win for wildlife and ranchers
- The lowland or South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris), a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List, has lost an estimated 50% of its habitat to deforestation caused largely by cattle ranching.
- Cattle ranching is a leading cause of deforestation in Colombia’s Orinoquía and Amazonian regions.
- A recent study shows that a simple fencing technique to contain cattle while allowing for smaller mammals to pass through protects ranchers’ livestock while improving forest habitat.
- The study is a promising start for coexistence research, experts say, as other tapir populations across Latin America face similar interactions with humans as their habitat becomes increasingly fragmented.

We need an Indigenous conservation state of mind (commentary)
- “In a culture that perceives nature as separate from people, the dominant conservation mindset is biased in theory and practice by science-based methodologies to conserve and protect nature,” a new op-ed argues.
- Rebecca Adamson is an Indigenous economist and shares her perspective on how traditional ecological knowledge, diverse perspectives, and innovative finance can truly conserve nature.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Why is a landscape approach needed for funding the global environmental agenda? (commentary)
- This commentary by Robert Nasi, Chief Operating Officer of CIFOR-ICRAF and a leading forest ecologist, and Aida Greenbury, a sustainability expert and environmental advocate, explores the inefficiencies of fragmented environmental governance under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
- The authors argue that separating these conventions perpetuates administrative inefficiencies, competition for resources, and project fragmentation, hindering the ability to address interconnected crises such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation holistically.
- They call for a unified funding mechanism and governance structure to streamline efforts, reduce redundancies, and facilitate multi-benefit projects, emphasizing the urgent need for systemic change to effectively tackle the environmental challenges threatening Earth’s future.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

$125b in ‘climate finance’ funds polluting, rights-violating projects: Report
Multilateral development banks claim to have handed out a record $125 billion in “climate finance” in 2023. However, a recent report finds that some of the funds went to “problematic projects.” “The development banks’ climate finance figures should be read with great caution,” Petra Kjell Wright, campaigns manager at Recourse, a Netherlands-based nonprofit that published […]
Let’s rethink debt-for-nature swaps toward greater sustainability & integrity (commentary)
- Debt-for-nature swaps are financial mechanisms that allow countries to reduce their debt burdens in exchange for committing to environmental conservation: Ecuador’s marine conservation program benefited greatly from this kind of agreement recently.
- These are powerful tools, but to fully unlock their potential, we must rethink their structure and governance, a new op-ed argues. A more inclusive, transparent, and robust framework is needed—one built on the principles of Global Public Investment, which places equity and shared responsibility at the heart of climate and biodiversity finance.
- “Let’s turn the potential of debt-for-nature swaps into a powerful force for change, unleashing the transformative power of finance to build a sustainable and just future for all,” the authors write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Biodiversity credit approaches multiply as concerns cloud confidence
- In recent years, biodiversity credit projects and the methods to calculate their value have proliferated, seen by some as a way to finance the $700 billion gap in conservation funding identified in the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework.
- Credits involve payment for measurable outcomes beneficial to nature, ranging from increases in species diversity at a site to securing land rights for Indigenous communities.
- Critics of biodiversity credits have voiced concerns about comparing outcomes across ecosystems, especially if buyers will use the credits for offsetting. They also say focusing on biodiversity credits is a distraction.
- Proponents argue for bolstering biodiversity credit integrity and confidence in the markets to boost demand. Projections by the World Economic Forum suggest the market could reach $7 billion by 2030, though less than $2 million in credits have been sold so far.

Biden tours Amazon Rainforest, pledges funding in advance of Trump
U.S. President Joe Biden made a historic visit to the Brazilian Amazon on Nov. 17, where he pledged $50 million for the state-led Amazon Fund to help conserve the world’s largest and most biodiverse rainforest. “It’s often said that the Amazon is the lungs of the world, but in my view, our forests and natural […]
WWF gives banks a tool to see if they’re financing environmental crime
WWF has released a toolkit that will help financial institutions spot and reduce their risk to environmental financial crime exposure. The new Environmental Crime Financial Toolkit (ECFT), which WWF co-developed with financial crime software company Themis, is an open-access platform designed to help financial institutions screen new clients and review existing ones, as well as […]
New ‘Cali Fund’ plans to make companies pay for benefiting from nature
A new global fund for conservation seeks to make corporations share part of their profits of benefiting from using genetic data from animals, plants or microorganisms in nature. Named the Cali Fund, the new finance mechanism was born out of the recently concluded United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity summit, or COP16, held in Cali, […]
As Venezuela’s crisis rolls on, its wildlife is increasingly at risk
- Amid economic, political and humanitarian crises, Venezuela has become a free-for-all for wildlife trafficking, experts warn.
- The country is one of the world’s most biodiverse, yet environmental concerns and wildlife preservation have largely gone neglected.
- Long-running international sanctions and a newly passed “anti-NGO law” have also made it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for conservation organizations to operate in the country.
- While there are real efforts to protect wildlife in Venezuela, the work of some zoos and breeding centers, masked as conservation efforts, are part of Venezuela’ trafficking problem, reports have shown.

Mountain highland bats lack data, face climate threats: Study
Bats in mountainous regions are facing more threats and lack of data compared with their lowland counterparts, a recent study showed. Lead author Rohit Chakravarty in an interview with Mongabay said there is much to be learned about bats dwelling in mountains, which are known to host one-third of the world’s biodiversity and half of […]
COP16 biodiversity meeting recap: Progress made, but finance lags
- The COP16 biodiversity summit ended on a mixed note. Delegates from 177 nations agreed to language saying that companies “should” pay conservation fees for genetic digital sequence information (DSI) from which they profit. Corporate lobbyists ensured this measure was voluntary, but tropical nations could build DSI fees into their laws.
- COP16 delegates also agreed to give Indigenous peoples and local communities a place at the negotiating table regarding conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, with “fair and equitable” sharing of benefits.
- Oceans got a boost as a coalition of 11 philanthropies pledged $51.7 million to identify and expand marine protected areas in open oceans. The new Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) also moved toward launch. This novel funding mechanism could offer an estimated $4 billion annually to 70 tropical nations.
- NGOs and large philanthropies identified obstacles that must be cleared to redirect $1.7 trillion in national subsidies that now annually harm biodiversity. On the down side, COP16 utterly missed addressing the failure of wealthy nations to keep financial pledges to protect nature with $20 billion by 2025 and $200 billion by 2030.

International panel launches guidelines for ‘high integrity’ biodiversity credits
At the United Nations biodiversity conference currently underway in Colombia, an international panel has published a framework with guidelines to scale up “biodiversity credits,” an emerging financial mechanism to tackle the global loss of nature. Biodiversity credits are meant to be a way for companies to invest in projects that protect or restore nature, earning […]
Women-led groups remain ‘severely underfunded’ for climate action: Report
Women-led Indigenous, Afro-descendant and local community grassroots organizations struggle to access global funding to fight climate change impacts due to structural barriers and stereotypes, a recent report shows. Total government aid, or official development assistance (ODA), for NGOs and women’s rights organizations declined from $891 million between 2019-2020 to $631 million between 2021-2022, according to […]
Here’s how to reform multilateral funding to get more money directly to communities (commentary)
- Although 17% of all forest carbon and 39% of global lands in good ecological condition are managed or governed by Indigenous Peoples, just a tiny fraction of climate and biodiversity financing gets directed to them. Most of the funding seems to evaporate in webs of institutions before reaching communities.
- To meet biodiversity and climate goals, a deeper transformation in partnerships between multilateral funders and Indigenous Peoples and local communities is urgently needed.
- The authors say this includes not only simplified application processes, alignment of funding priorities with community needs, and more responsive, flexible long-term support that directly reaches Indigenous and local communities, but also cultural transformation.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Australia’s Global ‘Nature Positive’ Summit features Indigenous voices, but little government action
SYDNEY – Just prior to the COP16 biodiversity summit in Colombia, the Australian Government hosted the world’s first Global ‘Nature Positive’ Summit. ‘Nature positive’ means “an improvement in the diversity, abundance, resilience, and integrity of ecosystems from a baseline” according to Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) and is a key part of […]
Why biodiversity credits cannot work (commentary)
- Byron Swift, a conservationist with over 40 years of experience working across Latin America, argues that biodiversity credits are fundamentally flawed and not a viable solution to the extinction crisis.
- He contends that while market mechanisms like carbon and biodiversity credits aim to address conservation and emissions reduction, they face significant challenges that undermine their effectiveness.
- Swift believes biodiversity credits are promoted primarily for the benefit of financial intermediaries rather than for their genuine potential to conserve biodiversity, and he advocates for other funding mechanisms.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Indigenous perspectives and a fossil fuel phaseout treaty featured at Climate Week
The Mongabay Newscast traveled to Climate Week in New York City in September to document the perspectives of conservation NGOs, activists and policymakers hailing from Asia to African and the Amazon. On this episode, we share an array of views on the myriad topics discussed there, like improving conservation finance, an effort to popularize a […]
Biodiversity still a low consideration in international finance: Report
Biodiversity-related projects have seen an increase in international funding in recent years, but remain a low priority compared to other development initiatives, according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The report found total official development finance (ODF) for such projects grew from $7.3 billion in 2015 to $15.4 […]
At Climate Week and beyond, investing in community conservation pays big dividends (commentary)
- As representatives of NGOs, governments and funding organizations gather in New York City this week for the UN General Assembly and Climate Week to seek climate solutions, they should be looking at community conservation projects, too, a new op-ed says.
- Such projects offer big benefits for people and wildlife, in addition to the climate, yet it typically receives a mere fraction of the funds directed at other solutions.
- “In a world where natural climate solutions can provide 30% of needed global carbon reductions, we ask that they don’t just look for shiny, new and innovative ideas, but instead take a good hard look at the solutions that are already working and that just need more support and funding to help them grow and thrive.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Colombia voluntary biodiversity credit methodology is first to be approved
Cercarbono, a Colombia-based certifier of carbon projects, has approved a methodology that can be used to generate voluntary biodiversity credits, an emerging finance scheme aimed at supporting biodiversity conservation. This methodology, developed by U.S.-based company Savimbo in collaboration with the Indigenous peoples and local communities in Colombia’s Amazon, is the first of its kind to be […]
In Nicaragua, activists challenge the value of international ‘green’ financing
- The Ortega-Murillo regime relies on “green financing” from international institutions like the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and Global Environment Facility. But critics say that money hasn’t made a real impact on Nicaragua’s environmental issues.
- Since 2018, the Ortega-Murillo regime has approved 27 green financing projects related to climate change and conservation, totaling $384.8 million, according to a Fundación Del Río investigation. Nevertheless, deforestation and carbon emission rates have increased.
- Fundación Del Río’s report said sources of green financing and their intermediaries need to monitor more closely whether investments in Nicaragua are leading to tangible improvements to the environment.

$35m debt-for-nature deal aims to protect Indonesia’s coral reefs
- A $35 million debt-for-nature swap between Indonesia and the U.S. aims to conserve coral reefs in eastern Indonesia over the next nine years, with the funding offset by canceled sovereign debt payable to the U.S.
- Indonesian conservation groups and their international partners will implement ground programs to protect reefs in key areas, strengthen marine protected areas and support community livelihoods under the deal.
- While environmentalists welcomed the funding, some argued debt swaps were insufficient to address the larger environmental and development challenges faced by countries in the global south.

Biodiversity’s Tower of Babel: The confusion & disorientation of Convention on Biological Diversity Decision 15/9 (commentary)
- Decision 15/9 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was envisioned as a multilateral mechanism to fund conservation via the sharing of benefits arising from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources (DSI).
- Hailed as a landmark, what royalties would be paid for this “natural information” and via what means are still unclear as the CBD enters a new round of negotiations soon in Cali, Colombia.
- To make the Decision operational there, delegates met in Montreal this month, and it’s still not certain if biodiversity-rich nations will be fairly compensated, but a new op-ed contends that “The appropriate interpretation of genetic resources as ‘natural information’ would imply economic rents in the benefits to be shared.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Short on funds and long on risk, Venezuelan conservation groups worry for future
- Venezuela’s economic and political crises have driven away many international donors, leaving conservation groups without enough funding to sustain their operations.
- Widespread corruption and organized crime, as well as government hostility to foreign civil society organizations, has made it too dangerous for many conservation groups to carry out fieldwork in the country.
- Should President Nicolás Maduro win reelection later this month, conservation groups say the already dire situation could deteriorate even further.

Leading the charge in philanthropy across Asia: Interview with Lim Seok Hui
- Lim Seok Hui, the chief executive of the Philanthropy Asia Alliance, is standing at the helm of a mission to scale collaborative philanthropy across Asia, and impact the world globally through PAA.
- PAA’s three primary focus areas, which it treats as interrelated and building upon one another, are climate and nature, holistic and inclusive education, and global and public health.
- Lim, whose background and education has helped guide her to the post of CEO at PAA, says she’s grateful for what PAA has achieved together with their members and partners.
- Lim recently talked with Mongabay about her experiences and PAA’s acievements, initiatives, goals, collaborations and challenges with its mission to promote philanthropy in Asia.

An Indigenous-led biodiversity credit scheme in the Colombian Amazon
A U.S.-based company Savimbo has an unusual biodiversity credit scheme on offer, reports Mongabay’s Shreya Dasgupta. “It is the only for-profit, biodiversity credit company that has been bringing Indigenous people to sit down in internal private meetings that are just between us and Savimbo to think about what biodiversity credit looks like for us, and […]
‘Fungibility’ could sink Convention on Biodiversity’s funding mechanism Decision 15/9 (commentary)
- Billions of dollars are needed for biodiversity conservation, which could be funded through the multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism established in Decision 15/9 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
- ‘Fungibility’ means that the mechanism to be developed should not fund projects that would have been funded anyway: instead, incentives should be aligned through rent-rich royalties on biodiversity-derived biotechnologies.
- Billionaires should not be financing discussions that are silent on the question of rents, as such philanthropy does harm, a new op-ed argues: “Fungibility becomes the F-word, as much for the billionaire philanthropist as for the stakeholders plying the ‘policy experiment,’ ‘flagship projects’ or whatever is the euphemism to sell Decision 15/9.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Conservation pays and everyone’s benefitting from it (commentary)
- In this commentary, Diego Vincenzi, current chief of staff for the Minister of Environment and Energy in Costa Rica, highlights how Costa Rica halted deforestation, achieved 57% forest cover after reaching a low of 21% in the 1980s, and protected 25% of its land while becoming the top per capita agricultural exporter in Latin America..
- Costa Rica’s success stems from a shift in the 1990s towards greener environmental legislation, introducing the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) scheme funded by a fossil fuel tax, which compensates landowners for forest conservation and now includes untitled lands, benefiting native populations.
- FONAFIFO, the institution managing PES, is expanding the program to cover 182,000 hectares annually and introducing biodiversity certificates for estates, aiming to broaden conservation efforts to include mangrove ecosystems, linking land and water for a more sustainable environment.
- This is a commentary and does not necessarily reflect the views of Mongabay.

How philanthropy in Asia is evolving
- The Philanthropy Asia Summit, held in April, underscored the transformation of philanthropy in Asia and how the evolution is leading to new funding mechanisms and collaborative approaches in the philanthropic landscape.
- Private wealth investors, family offices, are on the rise. Next Gen funders are prioritizing environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria and seek evidence based solutions.
- Asia’s philanthropic sector is stepping forward and wants to play a key role in addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges faced by our environment.

History repeats as logging linked to Cambodian hydropower dam in Cardamoms
- Loggers are targeting protected forests in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains using the cover of a new hydropower dam
- The dam is being built by Ly Yong Phat, a wealthy Cambodian tycoon with ties to the top tiers of government and a long history of environmental vandalism in the Cardamoms
- Timber from the Stung Meteuk hydropower dam has already been sold via a government-facilitated auction, but some timber may have been illegally logged
- The dam also overlaps significantly with the Samkos REDD+ project which is still under validation and verification

Elon Musk could avert global species extinction with only a portion of his wealth
- A new study has pinpointed the most crucial areas around the world for protecting Earth’s rarest and most endangered species, the vast majority of which are found in tropical and subtropical moist forests.
- Just five countries — the Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar and Colombia — contain 59% of all identified sites globally.
- Only 7% of land protected over the past five years overlapped with these critical areas for rare species, suggesting conservation efforts could be better targeted to protect biodiversity.
- Protecting the majority of species would cost approximately $34 billion per year — 0.03% of global GDP and less than 2% of environmentally harmful subsidies provided by governments annually (such as those to fossil fuel industries), or around 16% of Elon Musk’s current net worth.

To conserve large landscapes like the Florida Wildlife Corridor, payments for ecosystem services could be key (commentary)
- Florida has among the fastest-growing state populations of any U.S. state, averaging 1,000 new residents daily which drives the development of natural ecosystems, timberlands, farms, and ranches, reducing habitats for wildlife and open spaces for people to enjoy.
- The Florida Wildlife Corridor aims to protect a continuous, 18-million-acre tract of land spanning the length of the state–from Alabama to the Everglades–to keep 50% of the state undeveloped and provide a much needed corridor for wildlife to move north, south, east or west.
- Because there may not be enough public money to acquire or put easements on all remaining unprotected land within the corridor, payments for ecosystem services agreements–which allow public or private interests to pay landowners for clearly defined ecosystem services like wildlife habitat or water catchment–may become an important component of financing the project, a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

As Wall Street assigns a dollar value to nature, Indigenous economics charts different path
- Last year, the New York Stock Exchange proposed a new nature-based asset class which put a price tag on global nature of 5,000 trillion U.S. dollars.
- Though the proposal was withdrawn in January to the relief of many, Indigenous economist Rebecca Adamson argues that an attempt to financialize nature like this — which doesn’t account for the full intrinsic value of ecosystems, and further incentivizes destruction of nature for profit — will likely be revived in the future.
- On this episode of Mongabay's podcast, Adamson speaks with co-host Rachel Donald about Indigenous economic principles based on sustainable usage and respect for nature, rather than unmitigated exploitation of it for profit.
- "The most simple thing would be to fit your economy into a living, breathing, natural physics law framework. And if you look at Indigenous economies, they really talk about balance and harmony, and those aren't quaint customs. Those are design principles," she says.

Australian state fails on koala conservation while relying on faulty offset schemes, experts say
- Two experts join Mongabay’s podcast to discuss the decline in koala populations in the Australian state of New South Wales, and the government’s failure to protect them while allowing the clearing of koala habitats for development projects and using biodiversity offset schemes that don’t work.
- Despite promising to establish a Great Koala National Park in New South Wales, Premier Chris Minns has delayed gazetting it while allowing logging of native woodland within the borders of the proposed park, says guest Stephen Long of the Australia Institute.
- One reason for the delay, Minns claims, is the need to monetize the park via carbon credits, even though the land – and therefore the carbon – would be protected anyway, as it is part of a proposed national park.
- Researcher Yung En Chee from the University of Melbourne also joins the show to explain why biodiversity offset schemes to compensate for the damage housing developments pose to koala habitats do not work, are sometimes based on outdated data, and don’t even come close to satisfying ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity in the state. “I'm not sure how long this failure has to persist before we decide that we really ought to change course,” says Chee.

Will a billionaire bankroll biodiversity? CBD Decision 15/9 as potential ‘goldmine’ (commentary)
- Decision 15/9 established a “multilateral mechanism for benefit-sharing from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources” during COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) last year.
- Hundreds of billions of dollars are needed to finance biodiversity conservation, especially in mega-diverse nations, and Decision 15/9 could be a goldmine, but for whom?
- “Decision 15/9 can be either a goldmine for the mega-diverse Parties to the CBD or for select stakeholders, but not for both. Fairness and efficiency require that economic rents be vetted,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary, the first in a series of three on this topic by this writer. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

In largest ever study, Indigenous and local communities report the impacts of climate change
- Indigenous peoples and local communities are reporting a series of tangible and nuanced impacts of climate change, according to a new study.
- The study collected 1,661 firsthand reports of change in sites across all inhabited continents and aggregated the reports into 369 indicators of climate change impacts, including changes in precipitation, plant cultivation and marine ecosystems.
- Existing measures to track climate change impacts are barely able to relate to the diverse and complex ways in which local people experience and observe environmental changes, according to the authors. For instance, instrumental measurements might capture changes in rainfall patterns but miss crucial relationships between climate change awareness, sensitivity and vulnerability.
- This research constitutes the largest global effort by Indigenous peoples and local communities to compile and categorize local observations of climate change and its impacts.

New online tool is first to track funding to Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant communities
- The Path to Scale dashboard is the first online tool developed to track all funding for Indigenous peoples, local communities and Afro-descendant peoples’ forest stewardship and land tenure.
- It’s already highlighted several trends, including that disbursements globally have averaged $517 million per year between 2020 and 2023, up 36% from the preceding four years, but with no evidence of increased direct funding to community-led organizations.
- Although information gaps exist based on what’s publicly available, Indigenous leaders say the tool will be useful to track progress and setbacks on funding pledges, as well as hold donors and organizations accountable.
- According to developers, there’s an increased diversity of funding, but it’s still insufficient to meet the needs of communities.

Land tenure lesson from Laos for forest carbon projects (commentary)
- Laos has lost approximately 4.37 million hectares of tree cover since 2001, and some suggest forest carbon projects could be a solution.
- However, these haven’t had a good track record in the nation, in part due to its land tenure rules — land is owned by the state but largely used by local communities through customary tenure arrangements — leading to misunderstandings between companies, communities, and government agencies.
- “Forest carbon projects should continuously engage in capacity-building for local communities and authorities, thus creating an enabling environment for just benefit-sharing, securing land tenure, and the sustainability of these projects to reduce emissions over the long term,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

How effective are giant funding pledges by major conservation donors?
- Big-name conservation philanthropy is having a moment, but does the news cycle adequately capture the nuances required when huge new pledges of funding by billionaires or foundations are announced?
- On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, two experts weigh in on what conservationists and environmental journalists should consider when evaluating climate change or biodiversity conservation pledges.
- Holly Jonas, global coordinator at the ICCA Consortium, and Michael Kavate, staff writer at the news outlet Inside Philanthropy, offer expert advice for conservationists, curious readers and journalists who want to know more about the topic.
- "I think what the public really needs is more critical and more in-depth coverage of the ideologies and the approaches behind their kinds of philanthropy, the billionaire pledges and so on, how they're being rolled out in practice, where the funding's actually going," Jonas says.

Are biodiversity credits just another business-as-usual finance scheme?
- There’s a new emerging innovative finance scheme to support biodiversity conservation: voluntary biodiversity credits. These are meant to be purely voluntary, “positive investment” in nature by the private sector and, in theory, should not be used to offset damage elsewhere.
- But several Indigenous and environmental groups and researchers worry that, like the voluntary carbon credit market, a voluntary biodiversity market could end up being used for offsets, allowing companies and governments to continue business as usual.
- Critics also say there is lack of a clear demand for such credits from the private sector, and a voluntary biodiversity credit market won’t be a sustainable solution at a global scale.
- Indigenous and local communities have the potential to financially benefit from these biodiversity credit projects, which are likely to target their lands. But experts point out the need to first fix several fundamental problems that have already emerged in the carbon credit market, from the lack of land rights among Indigenous communities to unscrupulous middlemen, unjust contracts and dilution of funds.

Biological field stations deliver high return on investment for conservation, study finds
- Field stations provide many overlooked benefits and a significant return on investment for conservation, according to a new study authored by 173 conservation researchers.
- Areas near field stations lost about 18% less forest than similar spots without stations, especially in Africa; stations also provide habitat for more than 1,200 species at risk of extinction.
- Conservation benefits from field stations come at a median cost of around $637/km2 ($1,640/mi2), according to the study, far below the average budgets for protected areas globally.
- Field stations are described as underfunded and underappreciated, and although much of the information and research used to inform global environmental policy and goals come from field stations, few explicitly mention them.

To reverse deforestation and protect biodiversity, build a bioeconomy in the Amazon (commentary)
- Slowing and reversing deforestation and land degradation in the Amazon requires not only conservation efforts but also increasing the economic value of standing primary forests through a bioeconomy approach, argues Robert Muggah, co-founder of Instituto Igarapé.
- A bioeconomy involves regenerative agriculture, sustainable energy, and other activities that leverage the forest’s natural assets while ensuring economic benefits for local communities. However, the expansion of the bioeconomy faces challenges, including resistance from extractive sectors, investment risks, and the need for infrastructure, research, and support for local enterprises.
- Despite these hurdles, advancing the bioeconomy is essential for sustainable development and decarbonization in the Amazon and crucial for the world, says Muggah.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

New guidebook supports U.S. tribal nations in adopting rights-of-nature laws
- A new guidebook aims to assist tribal nations across the United States in adopting legal frameworks that recognize the rights of nature.
- The growing rights-of-nature movement seeks to protect the environment by legally acknowledging its inherent right to exist and thrive independent of human use.
- The guide examines real-world challenges and pathways for passing laws and includes case studies of tribes that have enacted rights-of-nature laws through constitutions, ordinances and resolutions.
- The guide contains practical guidance on steps like surveying community perspectives, holding educational gatherings, and forming planning committees.

Mexico announces 20 new protected areas despite budget cuts
- Mexico recently announced 20 new protected areas covering roughly 2.3 million hectares (5.7 million acres) across the country.
- The protected areas, which include national parks, sanctuaries and flora and fauna protection areas, are located in the states of Quintana Roo, Oaxaca, Zacatecas, Chiapas and eight others, as well as the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf of California.
- Mexico’s environmental agencies under the Obrador administration have been subjected to consistent cuts in funding since 2016, raising concerns among experts that the departments will not have the personnel or resources to protect the country’s 225 protected areas.

Direct funding of Indigenous peoples can protect global rainforests & the climate (commentary)
- Indigenous leaders attended the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Annual Meeting in Davos last week.
- Though communities like theirs have the potential to transform global rainforest conservation and climate efforts by delivering proven, scalable, community-based solutions, they require direct funding.
- Governments and donors must increase their direct, flexible, and less bureaucratic grant-making to those who have the profound knowledge and the means to make a real difference in preserving our planet’s future – Indigenous peoples, a new op-ed by Rainforest Foundation argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

The year in rainforests: 2023
- The following is Mongabay’s annual recap of major tropical rainforest storylines.
- While the data is still preliminary, it appears that deforestation declined across the tropics as a whole in 2023 due to developments in the Amazon, which has more than half the world’s remaining primary tropical forests.
- Some of the other big storylines for the year: Lula prioritizes the Amazon; droughts in the Amazon and Indonsia; Indonesia holds the line on deforestation despite el Niño; regulation on imports of forest-risk commodities; an eventful year in the forest carbon market; rainforests and Indigenous peoples; and rampant illegality.

2023’s top 10 Indigenous news stories (commentary)
- Indigenous experts from leading Indigenous organizations and the U.N. share their list of the top 10 Indigenous news stories from 2023.
- This year saw many emerging trends, including the creation of funding mechanisms led by Indigenous organizations, criticism of carbon markets, record-breaking heat, and Indigenous women’s growing role as leaders.
- While the presence and recognition of the role of Indigenous people in conservation continues to expand, experts say the recognition of their rights and inclusion continues to be a challenge.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

For forests, COP28 was better than expected, but worse than needed
- The COP28 climate summit in Dubai was a mixed bag for forest conservation as climate mitigation.
- The final text included the goals from the 2021 Glasgow Declaration, which calls for halting deforestation by the end of the decade.
- However, the summit failed to make progress on paying countries to keep forests standing to offset emissions elsewhere, which has run into trouble following carbon offset scandals.
- Observers say the COP30 summit in Brazil in 2025 will see a larger push for forest protection.

Mongabay’s top 10 podcast episodes of 2023
- It was a packed year on Mongabay’s podcast calendar, with a new season of “Mongabay Explores” taking a deep dive into the Congo Basin.
- At the same time, the Mongabay Newscast continued publishing conversations with leading researchers, authors and activists, and it introduced a new co-host, Rachel Donald.
- Our top 10 list includes examinations of the Congo Basin’s cobalt mining industry, a conversation with a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, a botanist discussing the worrying decline of botany education, and a National Geographic photographer’s project highlighting the key role of traditional ecological knowledge for Indigenous communities and conservation.

COP28 cements goal to halt forest loss in 7 years, but where’s the money?
- While COP28 in Dubai included a goal to halt and reverse forest loss by the end of the decade, tropical forest nations say they are still not seeing the funding required to keep forests standing.
- The Democratic Republic of the Congo says it has not seen any of the $500 million pledged to it two years ago to protect the Congo Basin rainforest, the second-largest in the world.
- As forest nations wait for funding, some are controversially turning to untapped fossil fuel reservoirs underneath the forests.
- While carbon credits have come under fire this year, many at COP28 still say they see carbon credits as one way to bring in much needed funding to keep carbon and wildlife-rich forests standing.

New tool aims to make nature-based solutions projects in SE Asia a better sell
- A coalition of conservation NGOs has introduced a new tool aimed at helping local communities in Southeast Asia apply more effectively for funding for nature-based solutions projects.
- The group, which includes Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy, says the region has massive potential for projects to absorb carbon and protect wildlife, but that access to funding remains a huge gap.
- The new NbS tool is designed to help project managers put together project documentation that includes data analysis that should make it easier for donors to immediately identify the benefits from the projects being proposed.
- The tool isn’t limited to helping package nature-based solutions projects; proponents say it can also be used to put together the paperwork needed for other community-led initiatives that require data documentation and analysis.

Amazon deforestation declines but fossil fuels remain contentious, COP28 shows
- COP28 celebrates the strong downward trend in deforestation in the Amazon over the last year, but also reveals a conflict between Amazonian nations over fossil fuels.
- Colombia has stopped all new oil exploration contracts in a bid to eliminate dependency on the fossil fuel economy. On the other hand, Brazil announced plans that could make it the world’s fourth-largest oil producer by the end of this decade.
- Indigenous groups who live and depend on the Amazon Rainforest lament that they haven’t been heard or involved in important decision-making during COP28 that would ultimately impact them.
- Experts say that international finance is “fundamental” for climate action, and while this theme has been on the table at COP28, there has been no tangible action that would meet the scale required to preserve the Amazon Rainforest.

Despite progress, small share of climate pledge went to Indigenous groups: report
- A report from funders of a $1.7 billion pledge to support Indigenous peoples and local communities’ land rights made at the 2021 U.N. climate conference found that 48% of the financing was distributed.
- The findings also show that only 2.1% of the funding went directly to Indigenous peoples and local communities, despite petitions to increase direct funding for their role in combating climate change and biodiversity loss.
- This is down from the 2.9% of direct funding that was disbursed in 2021.
- Both donors and representatives of Indigenous and community groups call for more direct funding to these organizations by reducing the obstacles they face, improving their capacity, and respecting traditional knowledge systems.

Indigenous land rights are key to conservation in Cambodia (commentary)
- Indigenous peoples are effective custodians of biodiversity, lands, and seas, while sustaining distinct cultural, social and economic values of their communities.
- Upholding the legal land rights of these communities is therefore increasingly at the center of international climate and biodiversity commitments and agreements.
- “Strengthening Indigenous custodianship by expanding, reinforcing, and fully implementing these legal recognitions is essential for the protection of Cambodia’s forests, and would create further confidence among donors and carbon markets that customary rights are being upheld, enabling greater access to finance,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

How Indigenous peoples and local communities can make the voluntary carbon market work for them (commentary)
- The voluntary carbon market has the potential to address $4.1 trillion in nature financing gap by 2050 and support Indigenous peoples and local communities — when done right, argue a cohort of Indigenous leaders in a new commentary.
- The voluntary carbon market can work for and support Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs), and them for it, but these communities have not been adequately engaged or consulted to participate in this carbon market.
- The Indigenous leaders announce the new IPs and LCs Voluntary Carbon Market Engagement Forum that is taking shape and will try to address these IPs and LCs’ priorities. The Forum is now coordinating open calls for Governing Board members and Forum partners.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

As U.S. insurers stop covering prescribed burns, states and communities step up
- Prescribed fires are a positive land management method, but when the flames occasionally escape control, the resulting damage to land and private property also hurts this conservation tool’s reputation.
- U.S. insurance companies are thus charging increasingly unaffordable premiums for coverage of this activity or are dropping the service altogether in the wake of some particularly large recent accidents.
- As a result, many small conservation groups and private businesses are getting out of the habit of using fire to improve grassland health, boost wildlife habitat, and decrease likelihood of catastrophic wildfires.
- California is bridging this gap with a new state program that insures the activity, while prescribed fire associations, where residents and firefighters cooperate to carry out burns on private land, are increasingly popping up in communities.

Can carbon markets solve Africa’s climate finance woes?
- The African Carbon Markets Initiative, a consortium of Global North donors, corporate representatives, conservation groups and energy lobbyists, is pushing to expand carbon markets on the continent.
- The effort has gained the vocal support of Kenyan President William Ruto, along with a number of other African heads of state, who see carbon markets as a way to generate badly needed climate finance.
- But African environmental groups have sharply criticized carbon markets, saying they represent a “false solution” to the climate crisis and will mostly enrich bankers and traders based outside the continent.
- The drive to scale up carbon markets in Africa and elsewhere is set to be a major agenda item at this month’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

Myanmar’s primates and their guardians need more support, study says
- Myanmar is home to 20 species of primates, making it the seventh most primate-rich country in Asia. However, a new study shows that all species are suffering population declines, with 90% of them threatened with extinction.
- The conflict-torn country’s researchers and conservationists are working in challenging conditions and are in dire need of more support from the international community, the study says.
- Despite the bleak outlook, experts say the wealth of in-country expertise, young primatologists and local communities engaged in conservation action for primates in Myanmar is cause for hope.
- The study authors encourage conservation funders to not view Myanmar as a “no-go” zone due to the political situation, and propose recommendations to strengthen the field of primatology within the country.

Can blue bonds boost investment in ocean conservation? (commentary)
- Although they’re new vs. green bonds, the blue bond market is poised to take off as governments, companies, and investors begin to realize the importance of the blue economy and the relationship between climate change and the oceans.
- The Republic of Seychelles issued the first blue bond in 2018, with funds dedicated to expanding marine protected areas and improving fisheries governance. To date, only 25 other blue bonds have been issued.
- “The future of the blue bond market hinges on aligning financial incentives with environmental objectives, fostering innovation, and building a robust infrastructure that inspires trust and commitment from a diverse set of stakeholders,” a new op-ed states.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Gorilla permit fraud dents community-led conservation efforts in Uganda
- Foreign tourists pay $600-$700 per person for gorilla-tracking permits issued by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, which allow them to track and spend an hour with human-habituated mountain gorilla families.
- A recent audit at the UWA showed that some corrupt officials were issuing fake permits, diverting revenue away from the agency and impacting its conservation work, including project funding for communities at the frontline of gorilla conservation.
- In response, the agency suspended 14 staff members suspected of fraud, initiated a thorough probe, and rolled out a new system for issuing permits and collecting revenue.
- Communities living near the gorilla parks, many of whom have faced restrictions on traditional rights to the forests as a result of their protected status, say they’re aware of the scandal and that it’s only the latest in their litany of grievances against the UWA.

Forest conservation ‘off-track’ to halt deforestation by 2030: New report
- The world lost 6.6 million hectares (16.3 million acres) of forest, an area larger than Sri Lanka, and deforestation rates increased by 4% in 2022, according to a report published Oct. 24 that tracks commitments to forest conservation.
- The Forest Declaration Assessment is an annual evaluation of deforestation rates against a 2018-2020 deforestation and forest degradation baseline compiled by civil society and research organizations.
- Much of the forest loss occurred in the tropics, and nearly two-thirds of it was in relatively undisturbed primary forests, while forest degradation, more than deforestation, remains a serious problem in temperate and boreal forests.
- Despite being far off the pace to achieve an end to deforestation by 2030, a goal that 145 countries pledged to pursue in 2021, more than 50 countries have cut their deforestation rates and are on track to end deforestation within their borders by the end of the century.

More capacity building funds needed for small nonprofit conservation groups (commentary)
- Research suggests that environmental nonprofits — which include land conservation, land trusts, and wildlife protection organizations — receive just 2% of all the types of charitable donations.
- Though small conservation groups are typically efficient about converting funds into effective, on-the-ground projects, most conservation funding goes to the largest, multi-national organizations.
- “The simplest and most immediate way concerned parties with some resources, whether an individual or institution, can help is to donate more to small wildlife conservation organizations and volunteer when and where it is logistically possible,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

African NGOs seek more funds, trust, and autonomy in global partnerships
- A recent report from conservation nonprofit Maliasili scrutinizes partnerships between big international NGOs and their smaller conservation-focused partners in Africa.
- The biggest pain points in these often lopsided relationships Africa appear to be money, trust, and autonomy, the report says.
- More than half of the local organizations surveyed in Maliasili’s “Rooting for Change” report cited a lack of trust as a challenge in partnerships.
- “We want a supporting relationship rather than a dictatorial partner,” John Kamanga, co-founder and director of the Southern Rift Association of Landowners (SORALO) in Kenya, told the report authors, and “a willingness to co-design and build from our ideas.”

World owes it to Tanzania to keep Eastern Arc forests standing, study shows
- Tanzania’s Eastern Arc’s evergreen forests provide carbon sequestration that the world benefits, yet it’s local communities alone who shoulder the costs of keeping the forests standing.
- The authors of a new study recommend that international investments in conservation within the Eastern Arc worth $2 billion need to be made over the next 20 years.
- Without this, the authors say, the mountains’ forests and their extraordinary levels of biodiversity will be lost or degraded as local communities convert them to agricultural land or harvest timber from them.

For the oceans, global community must fund Sustainable Development Goal 14 (commentary)
- Oceans sustain life by providing myriad ecosystem services and foods which over three billion people depend on for survival, so its conservation is covered in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.
- Though #14 is underfunded, leaders of the global community can take action during the 2023 SDG Summit taking place today and tomorrow, 18-19 September, in New York City.
- “We call on the President of the General Assembly and donor governments to increase investments in the ocean [as it is] vital to the success of each of the other sustainable development goals. We must ensure a vital ocean for the billions that depend upon its health,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Indigenous peoples undersupported on frontline of hotter, drier, fiery world
- It’s official: This has been the warmest June-July-August on record, and much attention has focused on the urgent need to achieve climate resilience in impacted urban areas. But how are rural Indigenous communities around the world living with these new extremes?
- Indigenous peoples — from Africa to the Arctic to Central America — report unprecedented heat waves, droughts, storms and wildfires, extremes that are impacting the wildlife they hunt, the plants they gather, crops they grow, livestock they raise, and their very survival.
- Given that many Indigenous peoples live close to the land and depend directly on local resources, they’re especially vulnerable to the massive changes now sweeping our planet.
- But while Indigenous peoples are considered by many researchers and activists to be Earth’s best land stewards, their communities aren’t receiving the funding or resources necessary to adapt to a hotter, drier, stormier, fiery world, often due to the lack of access to their traditional lands.

What’s next for the new Global Biodiversity Fund? (commentary)
- The 15th Convention on Biological Diversity meeting (COP15) established a new Global Biodiversity Framework for action through the year 2030.
- The Global Environment Facility then launched the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund to finance the execution of the new agreement.
- “The fund’s success will be measured by its impact on biodiversity conservation, making a strong focus on achieving measurable impacts crucial,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Peru signs $20-million debt-for-nature swap with focus on Amazon rainforest
- Peru struck a $20 million debt-for-nature swap agreement with the U.S. that transfers debt payments to conservation initiatives like improving protected areas and natural resource management.
- The deal also included four NGOs: Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society and World Wildlife Fund. The groups donated a combined $3 million in addition to the $15 million contributed by the U.S.
- This is the third debt-for-nature swap deal struck with Peru. The U.S. has now made 13 debt-for-nature and debt-for-climate swaps in Latin America and 22 worldwide.

Global green growth stalled by climate finance shortfalls (commentary)
- There is growing consensus that green growth – economic growth that is environmentally sustainable – is both possible and desirable: the green economy is estimated to represent $1.3 trillion in annual sales in the U.S. alone.
- Calls for worldwide green growth in recent years have come from far and wide, from the United Nations to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and others, but commitments to fund this growth continually fall short.
- Ahead of the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals Summit in mid-September, a new op-ed argues that this event offers a chance for world leaders to make progress on climate finance and green growth, to boost sustainable growth while limiting losses due to multiplying environmental crises.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

What would it cost to protect the Congo Rainforest?
- The Congo Basin holds the world’s second-largest rainforest — the majority of which is in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — playing a vital role in carbon storage and ecological services that millions of people and species rely upon.
- However, the DRC is a nation with the second-highest rate of tropical deforestation behind Brazil. Meanwhile, Gabon says it has acted to protect its forests but hasn’t reaped the promised rewards.
- International commitments to protect the Congo Rainforest are historically meager compared with what experts say is actually needed, and many of these commitments go unfulfilled.
- On this episode of Mongabay Explores the Congo Basin, we speak with experts about what’s needed to overcome hurdles to financing forest protection to benefit conservation, climate and communities: Paolo Cerutti, senior scientist and DRC unit head at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR-ICRAF); Chadrack Kafuti at Ghent University; Wahida Patwa Patwa-Shah, senior regional technical specialist, UNDP Climate Hub; and Lee White, minister of water, forests, the sea and environment in Gabon.

Big promises to Indigenous groups from new global nature fund — but will it deliver?
- On August 24, 2023, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) ratified and established the new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund to help developing countries meet their targets set up as part of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
- The new fund promises to invest 20% of its resources to directly support initiatives led by Indigenous peoples and local communities to protect and conserve biodiversity.
- While Indigenous communities welcome the move and are hopeful the new allocation will help them achieve their targets, they are skeptical about the barriers to accessing the funds, including delays and lack of knowledge.
- Some Indigenous representatives urge the GEF to rethink documentation requirements, the need for capacity building in the communities, and respect the individual community’s differences while designing the modalities for the GBFF.

New global biodiversity fund to restore nature worldwide by 2030 officially launches
- Representatives of 185 countries officially agreed to launch a new fund to ramp up investment to nations in meeting goals outlined in the Global Biodiversity Framework.
- So far, Canada and the U.K. announced initial contributions to start the fund’s capitalization, contributing $146.8 million (CA$200 million) and $12.58 million (£10 million), respectively.
- Targets include about 20% of funds to support Indigenous and local action to protect and conserve biodiversity and at least 36% of the fund’s resources to support the most vulnerable people, small island developing states, and least developed countries.
- Some human rights and environmental activists are calling for more contributions needed to operationalize the fund and firm commitment to allocate funds to Indigenous groups.

What drives and halts tropical deforestation? Analyzing 24 years of data
- Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 320 studies covering a period of 24 years, to identify the key drivers of tropical deforestation.
- Deforestation is driven largely by agriculture and cattle ranching, building roads, expanding cities into forests, and population growth.
- Factors halting deforestation include steeper, less accessible terrain, stronger protections for parks and reserves, Indigenous land management, commodity certification programs, and payments for ecosystem services.
- Researchers say they hope the study can be “a resource to guide policies and management toward actions that help reverse deforestation.”

To safeguard a rare Brazilian woodpecker, an NGO bought out its habitat
- Not seen by scientists since the first specimen was described nearly a century ago, Kaempfer’s woodpecker (Celeus obrieni) was “rediscovered” in the mid-2000s.
- Listed as a vulnerable species, this Brazil-endemic bird is threatened by the widespread agricultural conversion of the Cerrado savanna, its habitat, and by wildfires.
- In the Brazilian state of Tocantins, the Araguaia Institute, a conservation NGO, created the first protected area for the woodpecker after it managed to purchase the land — an increasingly popular strategy for preserving what remains of the Cerrado biome and its biodiversity.

XPRIZE Rainforest finalists named for top conservation technology award
- The California-based XPRIZE Foundation that organizes competitions incentivizing innovations in health, energy and other sectors, has announced the six finalists for its rainforest biodiversity competition.
- Aimed at developing novel technologies for biodiversity mapping, XPRIZE Rainforest comes with a $10 million prize.
- Mongabay staff writer Abhishyant Kidangoor attended the semifinals in Singapore last month and spoke with Peter Houlihan, executive vice president of biodiversity and conservation at XPRIZE, to learn more about why the competition was launched and how, as Houlihan says, it has become a movement.

Biological field stations: Indispensable but ‘invisible’
- Biological field stations are critical to conservation research and rewilding efforts, yet they’re often overlooked in discussions of global environmental policy.
- Beside their visibility problem, reduced funding is a major challenge for most research stations, yet their impact has been measurable in places such as southwestern Peru and in Costa Rica.
- Joining the Mongabay Newscast to discuss the importance of field research stations — and the conservation successes they’ve fostered in nations like Costa Rica — is wildlife ecologist and director of Osa Conservation, Andrew Whitworth.
- “With the climate and biodiversity crises, we need field stations more than ever, yet they’re often under threat of being closed,” Whitworth says in calling for greater philanthropic support for this global network of research hubs.

Timber harvests to meet global wood demand will bring soaring emissions: Study
- At a time when the world desperately needs to reduce its carbon emissions, global timber harvests to meet soaring demand for wood products — including paper and biomass for energy — could produce more than 10% of total global carbon emissions over coming decades, a new groundbreaking study finds.
- Global wood consumption could grow by 54% between 2010 and 2050, creating a demand for timber that would result in a “clear-cut equivalent” in area roughly the size of the continental U.S., adding 3.5 to 4.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere annually for years to come.
- The study scientists warn that flawed national climate policies and faulty carbon accounting are failing to accurately forecast these potential carbon emissions resulting from the cutting of natural forests.
- The researchers point out that less natural forests need to be cut to meet the rising global demand for wood products. That demand could partially be met by increasing wood production in already existing plantation forests.

Does the Global Biodiversity Framework give due consideration to market mechanisms? (commentary)
- The recently approved “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” is meant to guide countries’ efforts to conserve biodiversity.
- It provides specific guidance on how its targets may be achieved, and in that sense, takes a regulatory approach.
- The authors of a new op-ed argue that market mechanisms must also be highly considered, given the ability of things like sustainably certified products to fetch higher prices while generating benefits for biodiversity, “payments for ecosystem services” programs that generate billions of dollars in annual transactions, and more.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Ecuador to boost protection of Galápagos in biggest debt-for-nature deal ever
- Ecuador has launched a debt-for-nature deal that will wipe out some $1 billion in interest payments in exchange for boosting its protection of the waters around the Galápagos Islands.
- Much of the funding will focus on managing the newly established Hermandad Marine Reserve, the existing Galápagos Marine Reserve, and sustainable fishing and climate resilience efforts.
- The deal would also finance an endowment to generate ongoing funding for marine conservation in the Galápagos Islands.
- This is the world’s largest debt-for-nature deal to date.

Funders commit $102.5 million to support tribal-led conservation efforts in the U.S.
- The Native Americans in Philanthropy and the Biodiversity Funders Group launched a funding pledge to support tribal-led restoration and conservation efforts in the United States.
- Fifteen funders have already committed $102.5 million to support the Tribal Nations Conservation Pledge goals since its launch in March.
- Projects to benefit will be selected by funders and could include natural resource and conservation projects, regrants and tribal-led conservation NGOs working in direct partnership with tribes, among several others.
- Erik Stegman, the Native Americans in Philanthropy’s chief executive officer, said the pledge ensures that Indigenous groups continue to lead the way in conservation efforts in the U.S. as well as meet the vision of conserving 30% of U.S. land and waters by 2030.

We need to show that planetary wins are possible, says Dax Dasilva
- In 2021 Canadian entrepreneur Dax Dasilva donated $40 million to launch “Age of Union,” which supports conservation projects working to address climate change and the extinction crisis.
- Dasilva aims to bring a startup mentality to conservation, supporting grassroots, locally-led, and Indigenous-led projects with resources and guidance on scaling impact.
- Age of Union places a strong emphasis on storytelling to demonstrate that conservation efforts can have an impact, and has supported short documentaries and social media videos: “One of the main things we want to do is to show people that things can be done,” said Dasilva. “The worst outcome would be for people to stop believing that we’re out of time and that there’s nothing left to do.”
- Dasilva spoke about his passions, his philosophy on conservation, and more during a March 2023 conversation with Mongabay Founder Rhett A. Butler.

Citizen-run conservation booms in South America, despite state neglect
- The number of privately protected areas in South America has exploded over the past two decades, and today cover some 2 million hectares (5 million acres). Most of these areas are collectively owned by campesino communities or smallholder families, and many operate independently, without being registered.
- A study published in February 2023 concluded that the legal frameworks and support mechanisms for this type of protection area are largely deficient across the continent, making it difficult for independent actors to protect and maintain conservation areas.
- Experts told Mongabay that nongovernmental protected areas are crucial for reaching the Global Biodiversity Framework’s target of protecting 30% of Earth for conservation by 2030. Privately protected areas are relatively small compared to national parks but play a crucial role in integrating society into global conservation efforts, in education programs and protecting biodiversity in strategic regions, experts told Mongabay.
- Threatened environmental defenders in privately protected areas in Peru lack adequate protection and are expected to independently collect proof of crimes, exposing them to even more risk and conflict with neighbors.

Mobilizing Amazon societies to reduce forest carbon emissions and unlock the carbon market (commentary)
- Brazil could generate $10 billion or more from the global voluntary carbon market over the next four years through the sale of credits from Amazon states’ jurisdictional REDD+ programs; some states are already finalizing long-term purchase agreements.
- This funding would flow to those who are protecting the forest – Indigenous peoples and traditional communities, farmers, businesses, and government agencies – and the prospect of this funding could mobilize collective action to reduce emissions from illegal deforestation and degradation.
- Rapid progress in reducing emissions from Amazon deforestation and forest degradation – which represent half of Brazil’s nation-wide emissions – would also position Brazil to capture significant international funding for its national decarbonization process through the regulated carbon market that is under development through the UN Paris Agreement.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Indigenous funding model is a win-win for ecosystems and local economies in Canada
- First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii of Canada, have successfully invested in conservation initiatives that have benefited ecosystems while also increasing communities’ well-being over the past 15 years, a recent report shows.
- Twenty-seven First Nations spent nearly C$109 million ($79 million) toward 439 environmental and economic development projects in their territories, including initiating research, habitat restoration, and guardian programs, that attracted returns worth C$296 million ($214 million).
- Funding has also set up 123 Indigenous-led business and was spent towards sustainable infrastructure and renewable energy projects.
- One of the world’s first project finance for permanence (PFP) models, this funding scheme is exemplary of how stable finance mechanisms can directly benefit Indigenous communities and the environment, say Indigenous leaders.

Blended finance can supercharge conservation (commentary)
- Bringing together donors, nations, UN agencies, foundations, NGOs, and private investors, ‘blended finance’ can align private investment with public monies to fund conservation.
- A new commentary by the founding chairman of the world’s largest such mechanism focused on ocean conservation — the Global Fund for Coral Reefs — argues that it can serve as a model for others working to reverse biodiversity loss.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Biodiversity credits: An opportunity to create a new financing framework (commentary)
- Biodiversity credits have the potential to accelerate funding for biodiversity conservation while benefiting local communities and biodiversity custodians.
- To make voluntary biodiversity credits work for nature and its custodians, we need to step out of the carbon credit framing for technical, social and practical reasons.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Study: Paying fishers to ease off sharks and rays is cost-effective conservation
- Paying fishers in Indonesia to not catch sharks and rays could be a cost-effective way of conserving these species, a new study suggests.
- Interviews with fishers at two sites shows that payments of $71,408-$235,927 per year could protect up to 18,500 hammerheads and 2,140 wedgefish at those sites.
- Researchers say this money could come from dive tourism levies, and they are already carrying out a pilot project that has seen fishers release more than 150 hammerheads and wedgefish in eight months.
- An independent expert cautions that there need to be safeguards to prevent a perverse incentive where fishers are deliberately catching these species just so they can release them and claim payment.

At COP 15, biodiversity finance, Indigenous rights, and corporate influence
- Mongabay editor Latoya Abulu joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss her visit to the United Nations conference on biodiversity in Montreal that occurred in December 2022.
- Latoya shares the details on the landmark Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework, which nearly 200 nations agreed to, toward halting and reversing global biodiversity loss by 2030.
- While the historic agreement has been lauded as a victory, particularly for its inclusion of the acknowledgment of Indigenous rights, biodiversity experts, advocates and Indigenous leaders alike have reservations.
- Latoya speaks about all this as well as corporate influence over the final text, such as the inclusion of “biodiversity credits,” which also raise some concerns.

Dollars and chainsaws: Can timber production help fund global reforestation?
- As global reforestation commitments grow, how will companies, governments and communities pay to restore forest ecosystems and help sequester carbon over the long-term?
- One option: Grow and sell timber on the same plots of land where reforestation work is underway, as exemplified by pioneering restoration projects in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, where a single harvest of fast-growing eucalyptus grows up amid restored native trees. Eucalyptus sales then help pay for long-term restoration.
- Another approach is to concurrently grow tree plantations and forest restorations on separate, often adjacent, plots of land, with a large portion of the profits from timber harvests going to support the long-term management of the reforestation projects.
- But some scientists and forest advocates worry that projects or businesses that become overreliant on timber revenues to finance restoration could undermine an initiative’s environmental benefits, and lock in unintended harvesting within native ecosystems. Experts ask: Can we truly pay for new trees by cutting others down?

On climate & biodiversity, where are we, post-COP15? (commentary)
- There are many connections between climate change and biodiversity loss, and many of the actions needed to meet the 2030 action targets around biodiversity loss can also work toward climate change targets.
- One of the things that stood out about the COP27 climate treaty decision text, though, was that it did not reference the subsequent conference on biodiversity – COP15 – hence failing to ‘join up’ the conferences in a meaningful way, a new op-ed argues.
- If we hope to both reduce emissions by at least 45% and put biodiversity on a path to recovery, coherent approaches must be applied, writes Fauna & Flora International’s director of Climate & Nature Linkages.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Top 10 notable Indigenous stories of 2022
- This year was a historic one for many Indigenous communities around the world that marked many ‘firsts’ with successful land rights rulings, both on the global and national level.
- As Indigenous rights, roles and contributions in biodiversity conservation gain more attention, underreported and critical issues impacting Indigenous peoples were thrust into the spotlight this year.
- To end this impactful year, Mongabay rounds up its 10 most notable Indigenous news stories of 2022.

Nations adopt Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
- After multiple delays due to COVID-19, nearly 200 countries at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal sealed a landmark deal to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.
- The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), with four goals and 23 action-oriented targets, comes after two weeks of intense negotiations at COP15, in Montreal, Canada. This agreement replaces the Aichi Biodiversity Targets set in 2010.
- Among the 2030 goals, countries pledged to protect at least 30% of terrestrial and marine areas, while also recognizing Indigenous and traditional territories.
- Concerns have been raised about the ambitions of the framework, with many criticizing the agreement for its corporate influence, vague language and watered-down targets, many of which are not quantitative.

Mongabay’s Conservation Potential series investigates: Where do we need to protect biodiversity?
- Leaders and decision-makers are recognizing the urgency of protecting the world’s remaining biodiversity, but investing in conservation requires these actors have access to reliable and actionable information about ongoing conservation projects.
- Mongabay is launching a series of stories called “Conservation Potential,” in which we investigate conservation efforts in high-priority biodiversity areas in tropical forests across the globe.
- To introduce this series, we look at what some experts say about where to prioritize biodiversity conservation, what are some popular approaches to conservation, and what makes conservation projects successful.
- Approaches to conservation vary according to priorities, and there are even debates over what it means to protect biodiversity. This introduction is not meant to be an exhaustive review of the dozens of plans and schemes for preserving biodiversity, but it offers a conceptual starting point for our series.

Emmanuel Macron’s “Biodiversity Credits”: What are we talking about? (commentary)
- Carbon credits have long been a part of the climate change discourse and so the universe of different types of carbon credits is fairly well understood. What about biodiversity credits, at the heart of an initiative announced by Emmanuel Macron at COP27?
- Broadly speaking, two cases can be distinguished: on the one hand, regulatory or voluntary biodiversity offset systems with offsets, based on the “no net loss” principle associated with the avoid-reduce-compensate (ARC) sequence. On the other hand, credits not intended for offsetting, modeled on voluntary carbon credits, which are, above all, financing vehicles for actions in favor of biodiversity.
- Alain Karsenty, an economist at CIRAD, explores their interest and limits in relation to systems already in place or proposed elsewhere.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Indigenous peoples and communities drive climate finance reform
- At COP26, the United Nations climate conference in 2021, 22 philanthropies and governments pledged $1.7 billion to support Indigenous and community forest tenure as a way to address climate change, but a recent annual report released in 2022 reveals that only 7% of the funds disbursed in the pledge’s first year went directly to Indigenous and community organizations. (A subsequent analysis in 2023 revised this figure downward to 2.9%.)
- In response to an overall trend in which little climate-related aid goes directly to these organizations, they have banded together to develop funding mechanisms to which big donors can contribute. These organizations then control the distribution of money to smaller organizations, allowing more control over which priorities are funded.
- In support of these efforts, the U.S.-based Climate and Land Use Alliance, which is a collective of several private foundations, is working with a broader group of philanthropic climate donors to develop “a ‘plumbing’ system for this finance” through the Forests, People, Climate Collaborative.
- Indigenous leaders say more money overall is needed to protect forests and help to mitigate the effects of climate change, but the 2021 pledge has opened the door to finding ways to involve Indigenous and community organizations in how funds are spent.

Biodiversity credit market must learn from carbon offset mistakes (commentary)
- The nascent biodiversity credit market is beginning to be used to finance measurable and positive outcomes for biodiversity.
- Not to be confused with biodiversity offsets, which compensate for the residual biodiversity impacts of development, credits have been used to conserve habitat for species such as spectacled bears and yellow-eared parrots.
- As the world looks forward to the upcoming biodiversity treaty meeting (COP15) in Montreal, “credits have a chance to learn from the mistakes of their carbon counterparts. It is critical that we get this right from the start,” two credit market CEOs argue in a new op-ed.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Despite pledges, obstacles stifle community climate and conservation funding
- As science has increasingly shown the importance of conservation led by Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), donors have begun to steer funding toward supporting the work these groups do.
- In 2021, during last year’s COP26 U.N. climate conference, private and government donors committed $1.7 billion to secure the land rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
- But a recent assessment of the first year of the pledge shows that little of the funding goes directly to them, often going first through international NGOs, consultancies, development banks and other intermediaries.
- Most aid intended to support IPLC-led conservation work follows this path. Now, however, donors and IPLC leaders are looking for ways to ease the flow of funding and channel more of it to work that addresses climate change and the global loss of biodiversity.

Small share of land rights pledge went to Indigenous groups: Progress report
- A report from funders of a $1.7 billion pledge to support Indigenous and community forest tenure made at the 2021 U.N. climate conference found that 19% of the financing has been distributed.
- The findings from 2022 also show that only 7% of the funding went directly to Indigenous and community organizations, despite the protection they provide to forests and other ecosystems. (A subsequent analysis in 2023 revised this figure downward to 2.9%.)
- Both donors and representatives of Indigenous and community groups are calling for more direct funding to these organizations by reducing the barriers they face, improving communication and building capacity.

Forests & Finance: Sit-ins, seeds over seedlings, and fuel-saving cookstoves
- Liberian communities affected by logging have staged a sit-in protest in front of the country’s ministry of finance, demanding unpaid royalties.
- Cookstoves and woodlots are the first step in a plan to halt deforestation in southern Zimbabwe.
- And a reforestation initiative experiments with providing Zimbabwean farmers seeds from indigenous trees rather than seedlings.
- Forests & Finance is Mongabay’s bi-weekly bulletin of briefs about Africa’s forests.

Top wildlife photography requires ethics, patience, and kindness
- More than 100 wildlife photographers have come together for the latest “Prints for Wildlife” campaign, a conservation funding effort that sells unique animal photos at a reduced rate.
- Their upcoming, third campaign builds on the $1.75 million that they already raised for the conservation NGO African Parks.
- Freelance photographer Marcus Westberg is part of the effort and joins the podcast to talk about the project, conservation philanthropy, photography, and the ethics behind the shots he captures.

Blockchain for conservation? Maybe, but leave the crypto out
- The increasingly popular blockchain technology is being used for conservation finance purposes, but it comes with some significant downsides, both functional and environmental.
- The “mining” process for popular cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, is highly energy intensive, comparable to the annual electricity usage of entire nations.
- Journalist Judith Lewis Mernit and author Brett Scott join the Mongabay Newscast to discuss these environmental impacts, complications, and the relationship of our financial systems with our ecological ones.

Beyond bored apes: Blockchain polarizes wildlife conservation community
- Blockchain technology’s various applications, such as NFTs and smart contracts, are being explored for use in wildlife conservation.
- The technology’s potential might be immense, but downsides such as a massive carbon footprint and the imposition of Western technology to dictate resource management in the Global South raise logistical and ethical questions.
- Most proponents and critics agree on one thing: The technology is still in the early stages for its applications to be fully understood and implemented on the ground.

A conservation failure in Sumatra serves a cautionary tale for PES schemes
- A World Bank-funded conservation project in Indonesia led to higher rates of deforestation after the project ended, a new study shows, serving as a cautionary tale about the risks of failing to sustain such initiatives over a long enough time period.
- The payment for ecosystem services project was supposed to reward villages for halting deforestation and taking up sustainable livelihoods from 1996-2001.
- In the years after the project ended, however, participating villages that had received the payments lost up to 26% more forest cover from 2000-2016 than non-participating villages, the study shows.

Does citizen ownership of natural resources hold the key to realizing deforestation commitments? (commentary)
- The approaches to COP26’s global commitment to stop deforestation by 2030 may be inadequate, as they can only partly address the major drivers of deforestation.
- An additional approach based on transparent economic data disclosure and mobilization of public awareness could be a promising addition to that commitment.
- Such approaches that emphasize citizen ownership of natural resources, and which quantify net owner shares, losses, and the very large prospective societal returns, could work, a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Government inaction sees 98% of deforestation alerts go unpunished in Brazil
- A new study has found that Brazil’s environmental enforcement agencies under President Jair Bolsonaro failed to take action in response to nearly all of the deforestation alerts issued for the Amazon region since 2019.
- Nearly 98% of Amazon deforestation alerts weren’t investigated during this period, while fines paid by violators also dropped, raising fears among activists that environmental crimes are being encouraged under the current administration.
- Environmental agencies at the state level did better, but in the case of Mato Grosso state, Brazil’s breadbasket, still failed to take action in response to more than half of the deforestation that occurred.
- In an unexpected move, Bolsonaro on May 24 issued a decree raising the value of fines for falsifying documents to cover up illegal logging and infractions affecting conservation units or their buffer zones, among other measures.

Deforestation-neutral mining? Madagascar study shows it can be done, but it’s complicated
- The Ambatovy mine in Madagascar achieved no net forest loss by curbing deforestation in its biodiversity offsets, an analysis in the journal Nature Sustainability concluded.
- Project developers create biodiversity offsets, sites where they undertake conservation work, to make up for environmental destruction caused by their extractive operations.
- Ambatovy, which operates an open-pit nickel mine in Madagascar, carved out four biodiversity offsets to make up for biodiversity loss in its mining site, located in the species-rich eastern rainforest of the island nation.
- By slowing deforestation in these four offsets, the mine made up for forest loss in its mining concession; however, there isn’t enough data to ascertain how the measures impacted biodiversity, and previous research indicates that the mine’s offsets reduced impoverished communities’ access to forest resources.

Lessons from panda conservation could help Asia’s other, overlooked, bears
- Asia is home to five bear species: giant pandas, Asian black bears, sun bears, sloth bears and brown bears.
- Giant pandas garner far more attention than the four other species, and this has paid off for the former: Millions of dollars are spent on its conservation every year, leading to an improvement in its conservation status in 2016.
- By contrast, the other species receive little funding, and conservation and monitoring efforts are limited even as populations dwindle.
- Experts say successful panda conservation efforts indicate that the other Asian bear species could also rebound — but that being charismatic helps.

Sri Lanka’s environmentalists brace for economic meltdown’s toll on nature
- The deepening economic crisis in Sri Lanka is expected to hit the environment and biodiversity conservation hard, experts warn.
- Acute fuel shortages mean the Department of Wildlife Conservation having to ration out fuel, when it can get it, for its patrol vehicles, while its revenue from tourism receipts at national parks has evaporated.
- Experts warn that skyrocketing prices of food and other essentials could push a growing number of desperate Sri Lankans into environmental crimes such as illegal logging for firewood, poaching for meat, and sand mining.
- The crisis also threatens to undo hard-earned gains and undermine future commitments, such as programs on emissions reduction, ending deforestation, and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

With record $5.3B in pledges, GEF aims for more flexible environmental funding
- Earlier this month, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) announced a record replenishment of $5.25 billion covering the next four years, a 30% rise over the previous fund.
- Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, GEF’s CEO and Chairperson, calls the development a “fabulous breakthrough” and says more money could be committed to the fund later this year.
- Rodriguez is pushing for more flexibility in the fund’s grant-making, including more opportunities for non-state actors to receive money without government approval. Such a shift could result in more Indigenous peoples and local communities receiving funds.
- “GEF resources are for countries, not just the governments of those countries,” Rodriguez told Mongabay. “Countries are more than governments: among the various stakeholders are the private sector, NGOs, and communities.”

Funding, titling project for Indigenous-led organizations launched
- One of the latest conservation funding mechanisms, the Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative (CLARIFI), plans to channel funds directly to Indigenous and locally-led organizations and title at least 400 million hectares (988 million acres) of land to reduce deforestation.
- According to organizers, this will avoid 1.1 to 7.4 GtCo2e (gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent) of emissions as 33% of the Earth’s tropical forest carbon is at risk without recognizing community rights to land.
- At least $10 billion is needed to boost legally recognized territories, but much is required to attain the other goals of the initiative, says Dr. Solange Bandiaky-Badji, coordinator of Rights and Resources Initiative.
- Organizers will be holding planning meetings in the Congo Basin and Latin America in May and June to deliver a total of $25 million to Indigenous-led initiatives and test its funding project.

Funding for women-led conservation remains tiny, but that’s changing fast
- Of all the philanthropic funding to tackle climate change, 90% goes to organizations led by white people, and 80% to organizations led by men; only 0.2% of all foundation funding focuses explicitly on women and the environment.
- Initiatives such as the Wild Elements Foundation, Women’s Earth Alliance, Daughters for Earth and WE Africa are supporting women-led efforts around the world to protect and restore the environment through providing funding and publicity, as well as technical, entrepreneurial, and leadership skills.
- The Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA), which in 2021 received approximately $41 million for five years from the Dutch government, also provides flexible financial support to 24 funds, 30 NGOs and 400 grassroots groups and social movements from around the world.

How many orangutans does $1 billion save? Depends how you spend it, study finds
- A recent study evaluating spending on orangutan conservation, calculated to amount to more than $1 billion over the past 20 years, found wide variations in the cost-effectiveness of various conservation activities.
- The study found habitat protection to be by far the most effective measure, followed by patrolling.
- By contrast, habitat restoration; orangutan rescue, rehabilitation, and translocation; and public outreach were found to be less cost-effective.
- The study relied on building a model that correctly accommodated numerous factors, something both the researchers and outside experts highlight as a challenge.

NGOs alert U.N. to furtive 2-million-hectare carbon deal in Malaysian Borneo
- Civil society organizations have complained to the United Nations about an opaque “natural capital” agreement in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.
- The agreement, signed behind closed doors in October 2021, involved representatives from the state government and Hoch Standard Pte. Ltd., a Singaporean firm. But it did not involve substantive input from the state’s numerous Indigenous communities, many of whom live in or near forests.
- The terms ostensibly give Hoch Standard the right to monetize carbon and other natural capital from Sabah’s forests for 100 years.
- Along with the recent letter to the U.N., the state’s attorney general has questioned whether the agreement is enforceable without changes to key provisions. An Indigenous leader is also suing the state over the agreement, and Hoch Standard may be investigated by the Singaporean government after rival political party leaders in Sabah reported the company to Singapore’s ambassador in Malaysia.

Study: Indonesia’s forest-clearing moratorium underdelivered — but so did donors
- The 86.9 million tons of emissions reductions that Indonesia achieved from keeping its forests standing between 2011 and 2018 represents just 4% of its reduction target under the Paris Agreement, a new study calculates.
- Even so, those carbon savings should have been worth $434.5 million under a deal with Norway, the study says, but the latter has to date agreed to pay just $56.2 million.
- The study authors say the findings make the case for both strengthening Indonesia’s forest-clearing moratorium, and finding a carbon pricing mechanism that more fairly reflects the global benefits of mitigating climate change from reducing deforestation.

‘No planet B’: Groups call for $60bn increase in annual biodiversity funding
- A group of international conservation and environmental organizations is calling on wealthy countries to provide an extra $60 billion in funding a year to protect the planet’s species.
- They argue that the amount compensates for the toll exacted on biodiversity by international trade, which largely benefits rich nations.
- At a March 1 press conference, representatives of the organizations said the inclusion of Indigenous communities, known to be “nature’s best stewards,” would be critical, and they advocated for the bulk of the financing to be in the form of grants to these communities and other “grassroots” organizations.

Moore Foundation pledges extra $300m to boost conservation of Amazon
- The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has allocated an additional $300 million toward the Andes-Amazon Initiative to continue biodiversity and forest conservation efforts in the region until 2031.
- To date, the initiative has been successful in conserving 400 million hectares (988 million acres) of land, about half the size of Brazil, since its establishment in 2003.
- New targets include ensuring 100 million hectares (247 million acres) of freshwater and forest ecosystems, as well as Indigenous and local communities’ lands, are effectively managed.
- To safeguard the resilience and health of the Andes-Amazon region’s ecosystems, at least 70% of its historic forest cover must remain intact, a threshold the initiative will exceed if it hits its new targets, says Avecita Chicchón, program director of the Andes-Amazon Initiative.

Indigenous-led report warns against ‘simplistic take on conservation’
- To deal with climate change and biodiversity loss effectively and equitably, conservation needs to adopt a human rights-based approach, according to a new report co-authored by Indigenous and community organizations across Asia.
- Unlike spatial conservation targets such as “30 by 30,” a rights-based approach would recognize the ways in which Indigenous people lead local conservation efforts, and prioritize their tenure rights in measuring conservation success.
- Without tenure rights, strict spatial conservation targets could lead to human rights abuses, widespread evictions of Indigenous communities across Asia, and high resettlement costs, the report warned.
- Also without tenure rights, the inflow of money into nature-based solutions such as carbon offsets and REDD+ projects could also result in massive land grabs instead of benefiting local communities.

Indigenous Comcáac turtle group saves sea turtles in Mexico’s Gulf of California
- The Grupo Tortuguero Comcáac, the Sea Turtle Group of the Comcáac people, in El Desemboque de los Seris is fighting to increase the population of sea turtles, a sacred animal, in the Gulf of California.
- In the past five years they have managed to release more than 8,000 olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) hatchlings along 14 kilometers (9 miles) of the Mancha Blanca and El Faro beach.
- State funding for the project is limited, however the turtle rescue group does not see this as a stumbling block, at times working 12 hour shifts to guard turtles, monitor the area and manage logistics.

Malaysian officials dampen prospects for giant, secret carbon deal in Sabah
- The attorney general of the Malaysian state of Sabah has said that a contentious deal for the right to sell credits for carbon and other natural capital will not come into force unless certain provisions are met.
- Mongabay first reported that the 100-year agreement, which involves the protection of some 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) from activities such as logging, was signed in October 2021 between the state and a Singapore-based firm called Hoch Standard.
- Several leaders in the state, including the attorney general, have called for more due diligence on the companies involved in the transaction.
- Civil society representatives say that a technical review of the agreement is necessary to vet claims about its financial value to the state and its feasibility.

‘Great Blue Wall’ aims to ward off looming threats to western Indian Ocean
- Ten nations in the western Indian Ocean committed this November to create a network of marine conservation areas to hasten progress toward the goal of protecting 30% of the oceans by 2030.
- Less than 10% of the marine expanse in this region currently enjoys protection, and a recent assessment highlighted the price of failure: all the coral reefs are at high risk of collapse in the next 50 years.
- The focus of these efforts won’t just be coral reefs, but also mangroves and seagrass meadows, a lesser-known underwater ecosystem critical for carbon sequestration and oceanic biodiversity.
- Even as overfishing and warming take a toll on marine health, threats from oil and gas extraction are intensifying in this corner of the Indian Ocean.

Could the Blockchain help save the Amazon? (commentary)
- The blockchain is a relatively new technology best known for its role as the backbone of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. So far there have been few clear applications of the technology in the daily lives of most people, but investors and entrepreneurs are only beginning to explore the potential applications of blockchain technology in other fields.
- Sophia Wood, a political scientist and investor turned conservation manager who works with Operation Wallacea, argues that blockchain technologies could be leveraged to help protect the Amazon rainforest.
- “The cause of deforestation in the Amazon is multi-faceted, but it comes down to a single issue: many governments, businesses, and stakeholders on the ground believe the Amazon Rainforest is currently considered to be worth more cut down than preserved and standing,” Wood writes. “However, new technologies like Web3 and the blockchain, which enables rapid and transparent sharing of information and funds across borders – with no government interference – may offer a breakthrough in backing financial incentives across the whole region that would encourage and enforce forest protection.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Lockdown underscores Uganda’s overreliance on tourism to fund conservation
- When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March 2020, Uganda quickly shut down parks like Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to protect the gorillas and chimpanzees from getting infected.
- Tourism provides up to 60% of the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s operating revenue and is also an important source of income for communities living around Bwindi.
- Poaching in Bwindi rose sharply during lockdown in 2020 as some villagers entered the park to hunt for food or an income.
- One NGO reinforced its programs supporting public health and livelihoods in an attempt to reduce this pressure.

Indigenous leader sues over Borneo natural capital deal
- An Indigenous leader in Sabah is suing the Malaysian state on the island of Borneo over an agreement signing away the rights to monetize the natural capital coming from the state’s forests to a foreign company.
- Civil society and Indigenous organizations say local communities were not consulted or asked to provide input prior to the agreement’s signing on Oct. 28.
- Further questions have arisen about whether the company, Hoch Standard, that secured the rights under the agreement has the required experience or expertise necessary to implement the terms of the agreement.

Conservation projects in Mesoamerica make the case for Indigenous climate funding
- Research shows that national governments, investors and development organizations consider direct funding to Indigenous-led organizations as too risky, though a new report shows that Indigenous communities with good project management skills exist.
- The report from El Salvador-based nonprofit PRISMA showcases examples of how Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) in Mesoamerica have successfully managed limited financial resources to conserve forests, revive traditional nature-based solutions and respond to rising sea levels.
- In light of growing recognition of the role of IPLCs in mitigating and adapting to climate change, a Mesoamerican Territorial Fund is providing a mechanism for climate funding to be directly received by Indigenous organizations and rapidly allocated to organizations on the ground.

Uganda’s ‘Dr. Gladys’ honored by U.N. for work linking conservation and health
- The United Nations on Dec. 7 recognized Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka as one of its “champions of the Earth” for promoting the One Health approach to conservation in Africa.
- The Ugandan conservationist, a trained wildlife veterinarian, established the NGO Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) in 2003 to ensure better health care access for communities living around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and to lower the risk of human pathogens jumping to mountain gorillas.
- UNEP selected Kalema-Zikusoka for its science and innovation category; the other awardees were Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Kyrgyz youth activist Maria Kolesnikova, and the nonprofit Sea Women of Melanesia.
- “If you make the community feel that you care about them, then there’s less need to fight them,” Kalema-Zikusoka said.

Hold the tree planting: Protect ecosystems first for maximum carbon storage, study says
- When it comes to slowing climate change, there’s one natural solution that has recently gripped the world: large-scale tree planting and reforestation.
- But a new study warns that other natural climate solutions should be considered first.
- By comparing different natural climate solutions against four criteria, the study proposes a hierarchy: protect ecosystems first, then improve their management, and lastly restore them.
- Protecting natural ecosystems offered the greatest climate benefits, fairly quickly, at relatively low cost, while at the same time providing other benefits for people and wildlife, such as reducing the impact of extreme weather and yielding clean air and water.

$1.5 billion Congo Basin pledge a good start but not enough, experts say
- At last month’s COP26 climate summit, a group of 12 international donors pledged at least $1.5 billion over the next four years to support protection and sustainable management of the Congo Basin forests.
- The pledge is part of a broader $12 billion commitment to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation worldwide by 2030.
- The 200 million hectares (500 million acres) of forests in the Congo Basin may be the last significant land-based tropical carbon sink in the world, making the forests vitally important in the global fight against climate change.
- So far, detail of the pledge remain limited, and reaction from regional experts has been mixed; but all agree that $1.5 billion is far from enough to resolve the region’s issues.

Is colonial history repeating itself with Sabah forest carbon deal? (commentary)
- To the surprise of Indigenous and local communities, a huge forest carbon conservation agreement was recently signed in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.
- Granting rights to foreign entities on more than two million hectares of the state’s tropical forests for the next 100-200 years, civil society groups have called for more transparency.
- “Is history repeating itself? Are we not yet free or healed from our colonial and wartime histories?” wonders a Sabahan civil society leader who authored this opinion piece calling for more information, more time, and a say.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Allegations of displacement, violence beleaguer Kenyan conservancy NGO
- The California-based Oakland Institute published a report on Nov. 16 alleging that the Kenya-based nonprofit Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) keeps pastoralists and their herds off of their ancestral grazing areas.
- The institute’s research relied on petitions, court cases and in-person interviews with community members in northern Kenya, with report lead author Anuradha Mittal alleging that NRT’s model of “fortress conservation” exacerbates interethnic tensions and prioritizes the desires of wealthy tourists over the needs of the Indigenous population.
- Tom Lalampaa, NRT’s CEO, denies all allegations that the organization keeps communities from accessing rangeland or that it has played any role in violence in the region.
- Lalampaa said membership with NRT provides innumerable benefits to community-led conservancies, which retain their legal claim to the land and decide on how their rangelands are managed.

Details emerge around closed-door carbon deal in Malaysian Borneo
- Leaders in Sabah have begun to reveal information about a nature conservation agreement signed in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo for the rights to carbon and other natural capital.
- The deal allegedly covers rights to more than 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of the state’s tropical forests for the next 100-200 years.
- Indigenous and civil society groups have called for more transparency.
- In response to the public reaction to news of the agreement, its primary proponent, Deputy Chief Minister Jeffrey Kitingan, held a public meeting but has declined to make the agreement public yet.

Questions over who gets the billions pledged to Indigenous causes at COP26
- Private, public and philanthropic donors pledged billions of dollars to strengthen Indigenous land tenure and forest management at COP26, notably donating $1.7 billion as part of efforts to reverse forest loss.
- Some Indigenous leaders are skeptical about how this will play out given that most previous financial support was not addressed to Indigenous organizations and communities, but to intermediate NGOs, government agencies and regional banks.
- Indigenous organizations say increasing direct funding to Indigenous-led initiatives and transparency in the flow of funds can increase effectiveness of the pledges and build trust.
- Funding for forest monitoring technology is increasingly having a role in how some Indigenous communities safeguard biodiversity and map out their territories.

Forest declarations are nice, but profitability determines land use in the Amazon (Book excerpt)
- Nearly 130 nations last week agreed to “halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation” by 2030. Accompanying that declaration was a commitment to allocate $19.2 billion toward that goal. But how will these resources be deployed in the Amazon?
- Some of that money is expected to go toward reforming the production systems that drive deforestation. That money would likely matched by even larger amounts of private capital in search of so-called “green investments.” How that money is channeled and who benefits will determine whether Amazonian societies address the long-standing social inequality that is also a key driver of deforestation.
- In “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon Wilderness”, Tim Killeen provides an overview of rural finance with a special focus on mechanisms designed to support smallholders. Killeen also takes a critical look at the emerging market for “green bonds”
- This post is an except from a book. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

New global partnership aims to remove barriers to Indigenous climate finance
- At COP26, a new international coalition of organizations and investors, the Peoples Forest Partnership, announced plans to mobilize US $20 billion per year by 2030 directly to Indigenous forest conservation projects.
- The partnership believes this initiative can reduce carbon emissions from deforestation by at least 2 billion tons per year while protecting 500 million hectares of threatened tropical forests and biodiversity.
- While the partnership aims to set a high standard for equitable, accessible and culturally appropriate mechanisms for IPLCs to engage with climate finance, a consultation period is open for interested stakeholders to offer input on criteria and principles.

Bornean communities locked into 2-million-hectare carbon deal they don’t know about
- Leaders in Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, signed a nature conservation agreement on Oct. 28 with a group of foreign companies — apparently without the meaningful participation of Indigenous communities.
- The agreement, with the consultancy Tierra Australia and a private equity-backed funder from Singapore, calls for the marketing of carbon and other ecosystem services to companies looking, for example, to buy credits to offset their emissions.
- The deal involves more than 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of forest, which would be restored and protected from mining, logging and industrial agriculture for the next 100-200 years.
- But land rights experts have raised concerns about the lack of consultation with communities living in and around these forests in the negotiations to this point.

The ‘net zero’ bridge to saving the Amazon (commentary)
- Nature cleans up half of humanity’s carbon pollution each year; securing and expanding natural carbon stocks and sinks is a key piece in the effort to manage the climate crisis, right alongside emissions reductions.
- Well-designed natural climate solutions also enhance food security, alleviate poverty, secure freshwater supplies, and protect biodiversity. Companies’ “net-zero” commitments have the potential to provide critical finance for natural climate solutions while at the same time reducing harmful emissions.
- Amazon states have strategies in place to protect forests and support a transition to low-emission development; what they lack is financing. Support for these strategies would help to prevent an Amazon “tipping point” and the loss of one of the world’s most critical carbon sinks.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

$1.7 billion pledged in support of Indigenous and local communities’ land tenure
- Several governments and private funders have pledged US $1.7 billion in support of Indigenous and local communities’ tenure rights in recognition of their global contributions to climate change mitigation.
- Funds will be used to support activities that will aid Indigenous and local communities to improve capacity building and secure, strengthen, and protect their land and resource rights.
- COICA, a leading Amazonian Indigenous rights organization, remains skeptical of the fund’s promise to reach Indigenous territories and support communities but says it will monitor the actualization of these new commitments.

Donor agencies should ditch the club and embrace more locals (commentary)
- Aida Greenbury, the former Managing Director of Sustainability at APP Group and currently a board member and advisor to several organizations including Mongabay, argues that donors need to change their approaches if they want to be more effective.
- Greenbury wants to see more money go to locally-run initiatives and greater inclusivity when it comes to decision-making: Less Davos, more communities in recipient countries.
- “The real sustainable solutions to forest conservation will only be found when we embrace the local communities, treat them as equals, let them lead and own the programs and get their full buy-in,” she writes.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Conservation will only scale when non-conservationists see its value, says James Deutsch
- Last month, Rainforest Trust committed $500 million to a $5 billion pledge to conserve biodiversity.
- The scale of Rainforest Trust’s commitment was surprising to some in the conservation world: just a decade ago, the Virginia-based group had an annual budget in the low single-digits millions. Now the organization is aiming to raise $50 million a year over the next ten years — an incredible rate of expansion.
- Rainforest Trust is undertaking that ambitious target just 18 months after undergoing a major leadership transition: In April 2020, it appointed James Deutsch as CEO. Deutsch says the pledge will push Rainforest Trust to double down on its mission of creating and expanding protected and conserved areas through partnerships with other organizations. Rainforest Trust rallies the resources; partners lead the work on the ground.
- Deutsch spoke about the pledge and a range of other topics during a recent interview with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler.

How can philanthropy be more effective in environmental grant making? (commentary)
- Byron Swift serves as Senior Advisor for wildlands at Re:wild; over his career he has headed Nature and Culture International, Rainforest Trust and IUCN-US, and worked as a private foundation officer.
- In this commentary, Swift shares his thoughts on how environmental grantmakers can more effectively support conservation organizations.
- “Many of the ideas expressed in this article are in line with the principles of ‘trust-based philanthropy,’ which advocates less emphasis on process and more on developing a relationship through evaluating the character, expertise and achievements of the donee organization,” he writes.
- The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Indigenous Land in the Brazilian Amazon is a brake on deforestation and may start generating carbon credits
- A study says that Brazil’s Puyanawa Indigenous people will prevent around 6,400 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year by 2025, equivalent to about $38,000 annually.
- Practices such as putting agricultural activities in previously degraded areas, forest restoration and agroforestry have prevented deforestation in their western Amazon reserve, which has dropped by half in recent years.
- The latest survey from Brazilian mapping project Mapbiomas shows that the country’s forests and native vegetation are best preserved in Indigenous territories.

African Parks secures $100M for conservation in Africa
- African Parks has secured a $100M commitment from the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation to support protected areas in Africa.
- The money will be split between a $75 million endowment and near-term support for parks under African Parks’ management.
- The pledge is the largest-ever gift to African Parks’s endowment.
- African Parks is a South Africa-based conservation group that manages 19 protected areas covering 14.7 million hectares in several African nations.

Climate philanthropy’s opportunity for impact: Q&A with Bridgespan’s Sonali Patel
- Environmental causes have traditionally attracted only a small share of philanthropic support in the United States. But that may be changing as the impacts of climate change worsen and awareness of the links between a healthy planet and healthy society rises.
- Sonali Patel, a partner with The Bridgespan Group, which advises nonprofits and philanthropists on strategy, told Mongabay that philanthropy can be particularly impactful in the climate space by supporting innovative ideas that may be too risky for investors or governments and putting resources into areas that may not otherwise attract attention.
- “Currently only 1% of spend on climate change comes from philanthropy,” she told Mongabay during a recent interview. “Philanthropy can play a unique role in funding where either the risk is too great or there is a whitespace.”
- Patel said that her background in management consulting, helped prepare her for a role that involves working with organizational leaders to design, develop, and implement strategy. Having sound strategy in place can help position NGOs for what Patel could be the start of a trend that emerged during the pandemic: A rise in donors providing unrestricted funding to organizations they trust.

Convergence, community and justice: Key emerging conservation trends of the pandemic era (commentary)
- As a product of the profound impacts of climate-induced disasters, the pandemic, and rising awareness of social injustice, the conservation sector is in the midst of a period of rapid change.
- Fred Nelson, the CEO of Maliasili, which works to scale the impact of local conservation and natural resource organizations in Africa, identifies four key trends that are “significantly reshaping the conservation field” and what these mean for the sector.
- “Conservation organizations should anticipate greater support for locally-led or community-based organizations and initiatives, continued and increasing interest in the intersection of the environment and social justice, and more funding and policy support for the central role of healthy ecosystems in addressing climate change,” Nelson writes. “Ultimately these trends are all creating important opportunities for strengthening the conservation field in crucial ways—with more resources, deeper partnerships, greater diversity, and stronger local and grassroots leadership—during this critical period.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Gabon becomes first African country to get paid for protecting its forests
- Gabon recently received the first $17 million of a pledged $150 million from Norway for results-based emission reduction payments as part of the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI).
- Gabon has 88% forest cover and has limited annual deforestation to less than 0.1% over the last 30 years, in large part possible due to oil revenues supporting the economy.
- With oil reserves running low, Gabon is looking to diversify and develop its economy without sacrificing its forests by building a sustainable forest economy supported by schemes such as CAFI.

‘Inspiring behavior change so people and nature thrive’: Q&A with Rare’s Brett Jenks
- Rare, a conservation group that has run programs in more than 60 countries since starting in the 1970s, puts behavior change at the center of its work, combining design thinking and social marketing to drive conservation outcomes.
- Brett Jenks has helmed Rare since 2000, helping greatly expand the organization and launching initiatives like the Center for Behavior & the Environment.
- Jenks says Rare’s approach sets it apart from other conservation groups: “Rare is decidedly different from other conservation organizations: We are highly focused on one thing — inspiring behavior change so people and nature thrive,” Rare president and CEO Brett Jenks told Mongabay during a recent interview.
- “We work directly with local leaders and communities, advocating for giving them rights to their resources, equipping them with data for decision-making, connecting them to the formal economy, and empowering them with knowledge and skills to sustain change,” Jenks said. “We are steadfast believers in the cumulative power of individual and collective action as a vital pathway to safeguarding and restoring our shared waters, lands and climate.”

An engaged society is key for the future of African conservation, says WWF Africa’s Alice Ruhweza
- Protecting Africa’s charismatic megafauna often come first to mind when Westerners think about conservation in Africa, but this is a narrow view that doesn’t capture the range of issues involved in conservation efforts across the continent.
- Alice Ruhweza, the regional director for Africa for WWF, says conservation in Africa is about about ecosystems and people: “As the home of humankind, Africa and its ecosystems have evolved together with people. When we talk about conservation in Africa we are really talking about people and nature.”
- Ruhweza says that growing recognition of this connection is driving “a shift to a more people-centered and rights-based conservation,” including within WWF.
- Ruhweza spoke about these issues and more during a recent interview with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler.

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