Suchergebnisse

A consistent and significant challenge facing the conservation of natural resources is where the money will come from, and what new sources will arise as trusted sources dry up? While roughly US$30B is spent on conservation efforts globally per annum, the annual need to maintain critical ecosystem functions in the long term is estimated to be ten times higher. In an era where public support is increasingly insufficient, social impact investing is one funding strategy garnering attention in the policy sphere. Social impact investing directs capital to organizations, funds, and projects that generate both social and financial returns. Banks and investment firms, along with foundations and governments, are increasingly interested in the potential for novel financial arrangements to direct more funding toward critical social challenges, including environmental and conservation issues. Existing impact funds and initiatives demonstrate how billions can be leveraged to support projects ranging from healthcare to poverty alleviation to infrastructure, and highlight the opportunity for similar models to generate financial support for conservation objectives without undermining fundamental ecological goals. Ecological conservation has not yet been a focal point in the impact investing space, but current research and reporting suggests there is available capital as well as a substantial need for funding. While several billion dollars are currently invested as impact capital in conservation-related programs, in the next decade dramatic increases in this area are anticipated. The extent of this expansion, and the effectiveness of these funds in achieving real conservation gains, will rely upon appropriate investment vehicles being available and, importantly on the engagement of conservation community. Both will require education, coordination, and leadership on the part of conservation organizations, investors, and organizations serving intermediary roles. Not all conservation programs are appropriate for this type of financing. Here we provide an explanation of current actors in the conservation impact arena as well as critical features and requisite data to consider feasibility. Though conservation receives a relatively small percentage of philanthropic giving as compared to health and poverty related social causes, there are challenges unique to the practice of natural resources conservation that may explain in part why conservation thus far represents a small percentage of overall impact investing as compared to other sectors. These challenges include reliable risk assessment, consistent and comparable impact measurement, and (where applicable) generating competitive economic returns. To address these challenges, . key recommendations [are proposed]. ; Science, Faculty of ; Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for ; Unreviewed ; Graduate

Without widespread and immediate changes in human values and activities, massive tracts of natural habitat will be degraded to the detriment of those ecosystems, ecosystem services, and many threatened taxa—in the oceans and elsewhere. Despite this, the conservation movement has yet to devote much attention to the intentional project of widespread norm change. By one logic, the ecosystem services concept offers a means of integrating meaningful conservation into decision-making by diverse government and corporate actors, potentially normalizing conservation. But normalizing conservation would require not only the uptake of ecosystem-services concepts but also widespread changes in conservation practice and stewardship values—on a scale that far exceeds what we have witnessed to date. The concept of ecosystem services has potential for assisting such a societal transformation because it effectively puts a human face on environmental change, thereby enabling the extension of responsibility and morality into environmental arenas at all scales. Furthermore, cultural ecosystem services merit particular attention because of their contribution to the formation of attachments to particular places and to identities rooted in nature and conservation, which presents an opportunity to consolidate and shape deep motivations for lasting conservation. Realizing these two opportunities in a way that is both appropriate and effective, however, will require several important innovations and new institutions, which we propose here. One key step is to enlist a broad base of consumers and corporations in the funding of actions to mitigate the environmental impacts associated with their participation in global supply chains, via funding vehicles that are conspicuous, easy, enjoyable, and not too expensive. We describe a new initiative called CoSphere that strives to create such structures. With consolidated effort and explicit attention, conservation can become normalized—to the benefit of current people, future generations, and life on Earth. ; Science, Faculty of ; Non UBC ; Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for ; Unreviewed ; Faculty ; Postdoctoral ; Graduate