World Wildlife Fund
Center for Conservation
Finance
Presentation for Conservation Finance Retreat
Melissa Moye
February 11, 2002
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 +
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
Objectives

To create new financial instruments and
sources to support the sustainable funding
of these conservation programs, including
their testing under field conditions
Focus

Geographic: worldwide based on WWF 200
ecoregions in Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe,
Latin America and US
 Sectoral: forestry, marine, species, climate
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
Mechanisms: Conservation
Trust Funds
15 – 20 candidates
 Active (8):

–
–
–
–
–
–
–
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Madagascar
Namibia
Terai Arc
Vietnam
Mesoamerican Caribbean Reef
Argentina (Missiones)
Amazon Region Protected Areas
Kamchatka
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
Mechanisms: Investment
Funds

Asian Conservation Corporation
(Philippines)
 Green Investment Fund (Russia)
Mechanisms: Tourism Taxes
– Tubbataha dive fee
– Bali – airport or dive fee
– Maldives – airport or dive fee
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
New Mechanisms: Carbon,
Watershed

Evaluating sites
 Building expertise
 Developing guidelines
 Analyzing fundraising potential
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
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
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
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
Contributions

Case studies
 Field testing of mechanisms in variety of
settings
 Tools developed through large-scale
program management
 Legal models
 World-wide network