Conservation Finance Network

This January, Environmental Defense Fund and Farmers Business Network launched the pilot Regenerative Agriculture Finance Fund (RAFF). Enrolled farmers who meet soil health and nitrogen efficiency standards will access a 0.5% discount on a one-year credit line. This product, years in the making, aims to update farm financing.

Organizations across the country, and across land types, are working to implement aggregation projects to help family forest owners, small farmers, and all those who own smaller parcels of land. These projects serve farmer whose priorities may differ internally and in comparison to commercial operations.

In looking at forest restoration finance in a tropical context, three experts at a Yale-sponsored panel spoke of clearer images from space and more inclusive planning on the ground.

By removing "legacy sediment" from dam diversions, scientists can expand wetlands and their conservation oomph. In Pennsylvania, a commercial real estate firm learned how this wetland protection can create more developable land - and more profit.

Intractable social and environmental problems require collective action. These challenges demand that we step beyond individual mission statements and business models to craft strategies, chart paths forward, and unlock scaled impact—together. A new guide draws on lessons from convenings around the world to make gatherings more enjoyable and effective.

Every year, the Land Trust Alliance Rally unites practitioners across the conservation finance firmament. The 2021 rally weighed more in our memories, marking an end to isolation and raising our prospects. Our team members reflect below.

District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) created a municipal bond that covers the downside risk of using green infrastructure to control stormwater runoff. By offloading risk to investors, the utility drew new financing -and time to get its practices right. Now other cities are following its lead.