Reports
In 2015, CFN received a Conservation Innovation Grant from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to launch the Conservation Finance Roundtable. This report distills CFN’s experience from convening the Roundtable from 2015-2020, and presents outcomes attributed to practitioner engagement in the Roundtable. From this analysis, CFN presents a set of challenges, lessons learned, and next steps that will guide not only future Roundtables and CFN programs, but also the broader practitioner community working to increase social and environmental outcomes across America’s private working lands.
Private Capital for Working Lands Conservation
In this report, CFN aims to socialize and expand the body of knowledge on market development by capturing and disseminating findings from our Conservation Finance Roundtable. The resulting market development framework is intended to serve as a road map and decision support tool for conservation investors, public agents, foundation professionals, and environmental practitioners alike. It is designed to help market participants set realistic goals, expectations and timeframes for deliverables and objectives. By distilling the roles and deliverables of market maturation and highlighting how relevant stakeholders may better structure partnerships and efforts, those involved may be able to accelerate the pace and scale at which private capital is leveraged for conservation outcomes on working lands across the United States.
Conservation Finance and the Monongahela National Forest
The U.S. Forest Service, National Forest Foundation, and the Conservation Finance Network hosted the Monongahela National Forest Conservation Finance Technical Assistance Workshop from July 10-12, 2018, to explore how alternative funding and financing strategies could address forest management goals, challenges, and opportunities. The objectives of this three-day workshop were to bring together USFS staff with external stakeholders and experts to evaluate how various conservation finance strategies could be applied on the National Forest, build a case for strategies that show potential, and brainstorm how these strategies could be implemented. This report provides recommendations on the management strategies discussed at the workshop, and identifies potential resources, partners, case studies, and further context to aid in implementation.
Expanding Finance Opportunities to Support Private Land Conservation in Australia
The Australian Land Conservation Alliance, in collaboration with the Australian Government Department of Environment and Energy and CFN, undertook this desktop review of both international and domestic conservation finance approaches which may be developed, deployed and/or expanded to support private land managers in restoring, conserving and managing Australia’s landscapes, waterways and populations of threatened species.