Having already developed the first parametric insurance policy to insure and enhance the resilience of a coral reef section of the Mesoamerican Reef in Mexico, The Nature Conservancy is now looking to expand the product’s reach into Florida and Hawaii.

The Seychelles was the first country to issue a debt-for-nature swap to protect its marine environment; it was also the first to issue a blue bond, raising capital to finance sustainable marine and ocean-related projects. But can it overcome the teething problems and provide a model other island nations can follow?

The Lab, an initiative of over 60 public and private investors and institutions, accelerates much-needed investment solutions to support developing countries to meet their climate change and sustainable development goals. Created in 2014, the Lab has now launched 41 instruments that have collectively mobilized nearly $2 billion for action on climate change and sustainable development.

March Asset Management, the asset management arm of Banca March, has launched a thematic fund investing into marine and coastal enterprises that can deliver marine conservation, improved livelihoods and attractive economic returns. Mediterranean Fund is a global equity strategy with an initial investment universe of 44 companies selected following environmental, social and governance criteria.

In February 2019, the EPA’s assistant administrator for water issued a memo updating the agency’s water quality trading policy “to promote market-based mechanisms.” The memo includes six principles intended to clarify aspects of the federal water quality trading program, provide tools and incentives to states and local governments to implement trading programs, and promote increased investment in conservation.

"Locals in Seychelles will have the chance to play an equal role in decision-making and the management of marine protected areas in a first-of-its-kind participatory project. The project – enhancing coastal and marine socio-ecological resilience and biodiversity conservation in the Western Indian Ocean – is being funded by the German Climate Initiative (IKI) through the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)."

While the states in the bay watershed have collectively appropriated more than $300 million in each of the last two fiscal years to conserve important lands, and have received some complementary federal funding, these levels will be inadequate to conserve another 3.1 million acres of land by 2030 to achieve the 30% goal.

Conservation could be on the verge of a blue revolution. This year there is growing talk about using entrepreneurial finance to capture atmospheric carbon in revived marine and coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs, mangroves, salt marshes and sea grasses. Conservationists call it “blue carbon.”