World Wildlife Fund Center for Conservation Finance

1. World Wildlife FundCenter for Conservation Finance Presentation for Conservation Finance Retreat Melissa Moye February 11, 2002

2. WWF Center for Conservation Finance • Created in 2000 based on conservation finance unit – operating since 1980s • Mission is to dramatically increase the amount of sustainable, long-term funding for global conservation • Primary client base: WWF’s worldwide network • Budget: $1 million +

3. Objectives • To consolidate the gains WWF has already made with conservation finance mechanisms such as debt-for-nature swaps and conservation trust funds, and to promote their broader application in WWF’s priority ecoregions, species conservation program, and global threats program

4. Objectives • To create new financial instruments and sources to support the sustainable funding of these conservation programs, including their testing under field conditions

5. Focus • Geographic: worldwide based on WWF 200 ecoregions in Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America and US • Sectoral: forestry, marine, species, climate

6. Mechanisms: Planning Initiatives • Program Management Plans (3) • Brazilian Amazon • Terai Arc (Nepal) • Meso-American Reef (Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico) • Central Africa Forests Financing Study • Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon

7. Mechanisms: Conservation Trust Funds • 15 – 20 candidates • Active (8): • Madagascar • Namibia • Terai Arc • Vietnam • Mesoamerican Caribbean Reef • Argentina (Missiones) • Amazon Region Protected Areas • Kamchatka

8. Mechanisms Debt-for-Nature • Argentina • Russia • Tropical Forest Conservation Act and Coral Reef Coastal Marine Conservation Act • Peru (TFCA - 2002) • Philippines (TFCA - 2002) • Future priorities: Belize, Colombia, Ecuador, Gabon, India, Indonesia, Paraguay, Thailand

9. Mechanisms: Investment Funds • Asian Conservation Corporation (Philippines) • Green Investment Fund (Russia)

10. Mechanisms: Tourism Taxes • Tubbataha dive fee • Bali – airport or dive fee • Maldives – airport or dive fee

11. Mechanisms: Communities and Poverty Reduction • Successful Communities • integrating community development, health, education with conservation in the Eastern Himalayas • Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) • Integrating the environment into Poverty Reduction Strategies in HIPC countries

12. New Mechanisms: Carbon, Watershed • Evaluating sites • Building expertise • Developing guidelines • Analyzing fundraising potential

13. Staffing • 6 full-time, 1 part-time staff in Washington • 3 affiliated staff in Washington and California • Conservation finance consultant in Yaounde • Conservation finance consultant in Moscow

14. Expertise • Banking: commercial and investment (2) • Conservation management (3) • Languages: Chinese (1), French (4), Japanese (1), Portuguese (1), Russian (1), Spanish (6) • Legal: domestic (2), foreign (2) • Specialized: carbon, corporate finance, debt swaps, trust funds, user fees

15. Tools and Gaps • Quarterly Review Program Day • Internal review • Consultations within WWF Network • Participation in planning meetings • Large-scale Program Management Task Force • Creation of private sector advisory board • Brainstorming • Fundraising

16. Needs • Training guide (especially case studies) • Targeted capacity building for selected sites or regions (China, Central Africa) • Promoting a common policy agenda • Setting standards for carbon deals • Promoting TFCA and coral reef debt swaps • Sharing information about new mechanisms • Collaboration on projects on selective basis

17. Contributions • Case studies • Field testing of mechanisms in variety of settings • Tools developed through large-scale program management • Legal models • World-wide network