Governments play a leading role in biodiversity financing, but they are not enough alone. To achieve this, we need everyone. Not just a redirection of existing resources or a single sector, but combined strategies and additional resources.
What about the private sector? Philanthropic capital? Both are still not enough to meet this need. financing alone, but can be used in combined strategies. For finance biodiversity conservation in a broad and diverse way, it is necessary to create different mechanisms, merging resources from different sources.
Blended finance as a solution for conservation
Since the combination of resources is more effective, the blended finance. In this strategy, resources from different sources can be combined to benefit a cause. In the case of biodiversity conservation, it is extremely positive and considered fundamental in the design of financial solutions.
These resources can arise in the sectors of governmental origin, of private sector and gives philanthropy. Check below how each one participates in financing biodiversity:
- governments: the financing Government funding can also be divided into national and international. It is done through public agencies or financial institutions to support the pursuit of biodiversity conservation objectives. While the national government directly or indirectly allocates funding from national public budgets, the international government provides donations or financing by providing concessional interest rates or terms.
In Brazil, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) It is the part of the Federal Government that works in the environmental area. Among the actions carried out by the MMA are the reduction of waste in nature and the emission of gases into the atmosphere, in addition to the promotion of ecological tourism.
Among the initiatives is the Parque+ Program, which increases the practice of ecotourism in Nature Conservation Units and their surroundings and strengthens Conservation Units as spaces for leisure and socioeconomic development on a sustainable basis. However, government action can – and should – be even more comprehensive to benefit conservation. - Private sector: voluntary investment mechanisms such as green bonds or environmental impact bonds, for example, are used in this sector. They can also be driven by national or international policy regulations, such as biodiversity offsets and carbon markets regulated, among others.
In Brazil, by 2021, the private sector had already contributed to the protection of 22.6 million hectares through the 20×20 initiative, a partnership between Latin American countries with the aim of conserving and restoring nature. The initiative's areas of action include avoided deforestation, sustainable agriculture, restoration, reforestation and forestry with native species.
These data highlight how important private sector participation is in combating climate change and reducing global biodiversity loss. - Philanthropy: philanthropic capital can finance the biodiversity conservation through contributions from private foundations, corporate foundations or institutes, and NGOs. In this sector, seed capital and resource acceleration are strengths.
In 2020, according to the British newspaper The Guardian, environmental conservation received a record number of donations. Nine organizations came together to support the creation, expansion, management and monitoring of protected and conserved land areas, inland waters (completely enclosed seas, lakes and rivers and waters within the territorial sea baseline) and the sea. This was the largest private funding commitment ever made to biodiversity conservation. It is hoped that these efforts will be replicated in other parts of the world, for the sake of conservation and a more sustainable future.
Each source of resources presents qualities and challenges, but the combination of these origins is capable of generating financial solutions healthier.
Are you interested and want to know more about these combinations? Download our mapping “Financial solutions for nature conservation“.
