The Little Book of Investing in Nature: A simple guide to financing life on earth

Background

The authors of this book point out that the international community has missed almost all collective biodiversity targets till date. Insufficient finance or the large gap between the funds that are required for biodiversity conservation and the funds that are allotted and the inappropriate implementation of existing finance mechanisms are part of the reason for the continued decline in global biodiversity. 

Research Goals & Methods

This book provides an overview of the main types of conservation finance mechanisms and strategies to enable public sector, business, and civil society actors to develop finance solutions. The authors have identified six criteria which they use to evaluate and compare different finance mechanisms: the amount of funding required, the timeframe for implementation, the level at which finance should be aggregated, who should pay, why they should pay, and the way that revenues can be generated.

Conclusions & Takeaways

The authors identify five main types of biodiversity financing mechanisms: (i) revenue generating mechanisms: increase funding towards biodiversity production such as biodiversity tradeable permits, (ii) mechanisms for better delivery: improve results through efficient resource management and incentives alignments such as performance-based payments, (iii) mechanisms to enable expenditure realignment: reduce and redirect investments that have a negative impact on biodiversity such as subsidy reform, (iv) mechanisms to avoid future expenditures: strategic investments that reduce the possibility of higher expenditures in the long-term such as green insurance, and (v) catalysts: creating policy or investment-related enabling conditions can generate new or improved biodiversity finance mechanisms such as private stakeholder coalitions.