4Nature

Send us Fan Mail

Today we explore the groundbreaking intersection of finance and conservation with Douglas Eger, Chairman and CEO of the Intrinsic Exchange Group. Learn how the innovative concept of Natural Asset Companies (NACs) proposes a new way to value nature, transforming it into a recognized economic asset that benefits both the environment and communities. Through Eger's journey from conserving acres to conceptualizing financial mechanisms for nature, we examine how integrating nature’s value into capital markets can drive ecological and economic prosperity. We also discuss the challenges and future visions for NACs, including pilot projects that aim to redefine our approach to conservation. Join us as we navigate the evolving landscape of conservation finance, where the preservation of nature meets economic innovation.

Send us Fan Mail

This week, we're joined by Torsten Thiele, the trailblazer in blue infrastructure financing. From the depths of the ocean to the frontlines of urban development, we dive deep into how investing in the sea could be a game-changer. Learn how nature-positive projects, from preserving mangroves to enlarging wetlands, promise resilience and financial rewards.

Our discussion takes us to who's catching this wave—from city mayors to development banks. We also tackle the obstacles, like the shortage of ecologists in engineering projects and municipal resistance to novel solutions. All this while shedding light on opportunities for scaling up awareness and action. Intrigued? Cast your net and reel in this episode for a deep dive into a future where finance, ecology, and urban planning coalesce.

Send us Fan Mail

Today we talk with Slav Gatchev from The Nature Conservancy to unravel the complexities and triumphs of sustainable debt and conservation finance. Gatchev, leading the sustainable debt team, brings a unique perspective shaped by his background in investment banking and emerging market development. He shares his transition from renewable energy and infrastructure financing to his pivotal role at The Nature Conservancy, highlighting the innovative ways in which financial instruments are employed to tackle conservation and biodiversity challenges. Delving into the evolution of debt-for-nature swaps, he explains their journey from small-scale initiatives to groundbreaking transactions like the Belize Blue Bonds, illustrating their significant impact in reducing national debt and bolstering conservation efforts.

We also examine the future potential of blue bonds and sovereign debt issuances in mitigating the triple crisis of debt sustainability, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Gatchev emphasizes the importance of these financial tools in the conservation community and their role in forging sustainable solutions for both governments and the environment. The conversation shifts to explore the innovative work of Gatchev's team, the broader implications of debt in environmental conservation, and the necessity of recognizing the economic and financial returns from investing in nature. This episode is a deep dive into the world of conservation finance, where debt transforms into a powerful agent for ecological preservation and economic resilience.

Send us Fan Mail

In our first episode of the year, David speaks with Sue Stolton and Nigel Dudley, proponents of the protected area movement for more than 20 years and the partners behind Equilibrium Research, a conservation consultancy offering practical solutions to conservation challenges, from concept, to implementation, to evaluation of impact. Sue and Nigel discuss the social origins of protected areas, the evolution of protected areas conservation as a force for climate change mitigation, their Protected Areas Benefit Assessment Tool and discuss their hopes for the future of protected areas in light of the Global Biodiversity Framework's "30x30" Target. 

Sue and Nigel speak about the importance of empowering local and indigenous communities in OECM and PA management and integrating input from local communities in the policies surrounding these areas. They share with David their hope that more work can go into discovering what the wider social values and benefits of PA’s are for local communities, beyond the economic impact of protecting and restoring nature. 

Learn more about Sue Stolton and Nigel Dudley’s work and the critical role of area-based conservation in their new book, “Leaving Space for Nature”. 

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, Kim and David sit down with Andrew Bovarnick, the United Nations Development Programme Global Head, Food and Agricultural Commodity Systems (FACS). In this engaging discussion, Andrew shares highlights of his professional journey from researching in the Ecuadorian tropics, to his environmental economics and policy training and now his current priority to bring economic instruments and market-based incentives into the conservation work supported by UNDP. With his focus on collaboration, Andrew is leading UNDP’s commodities platforms approach to establish  long-term stakeholder engagement around the world. As successfully piloted in the cattle ranching community of Paraguay, these platforms bring relevant parties together to debate, discuss, disagree, and ultimately  formulate collective actions to positively transform their sectors to the benefit of all; nature included.   

“We sometimes assume…that there are a lot of opposing agendas. But… it may just be about bringing the stakeholders to the table and facilitating conversations to find those common areas of interest”

- Andrew Bovarnick

Send us Fan Mail

Episode 10 of 4Nature Podcast, features Edwin Wayonyi, Director of Partnership and Enterprise at the Kenya Wildlife Service.

In this episode, Edwin Wayonyi connects with David Meyers about his work engaging with many different stakeholders to find solutions for financing conservation in Kenya. Edwin speaks to the often overlooked importance of domestic tourism as a sustainable source of income to support the parks system and his work to engage the private sector in building up tourism surrounding the parks. David and Ediwn discuss some of the challenges to conservation that are arising with the climate crisis, and Edwin shares success stories of protecting livestock and lions across Kenya, from education campaigns to reduce human-wildlife conflicts to private sector partnerships such as Lion Lights, to protect livestock and lions across Kenya.  

“Wildlife doesn’t wait for you to get money. Wildlife and our habitats need our protection now and today. Because the challenges are many.” - Edwin Wayonyi

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, 4Nature travels to Kuruwitu, Kenya for a conversation with Des Bowden of Oceans Alive about their work to preserve the coastal and marine ecosystems in Kenya.

After a morning watching a migrating pod of humpback whales and snorkeling in one of the protected and restored coastal areas, David and Des discuss what began as a conversation with the community elders about native and sustainable fishing traditions and turned into Karutu - a collective which established the first locally-managed marine area in the Western Indian Ocean (LMMA, or Tengefu in Swahili). Des shares details about the conservation efforts of Oceans Alive to empower and enable local communities to protect their marine resources and how establishing the first LMMA has proven that a locally-led approach is a successful conservation strategy, inspiring the establishment of 30 other LMMAs along the coast of Kenya. 
_________

The Kuruwitu Community - Our story 

The Kenyan coast where we live looked like paradise. Green palms, silver sand, coral reef and blue, blue sea. 

But in truth not all was well.

Our people were hungry, the reef was dying. The picture postcard scene was falling apart. The pressures of the outside world - international fishing pirates, the lure of the big markets, the greedy aquarium trade - had led to fatal over-fishing. The fish got smaller and smaller. The shoals got smaller and smaller too. The coral began to die. The reef, the nursery of the deep sea fish, was bare and grey. Our families started to get hungry. The harder we fished, the worse it got.

That’s how it used to be. 20 years ago we started trying to change. Our idea was to work together as a community to heal the reef, to bring back the fish and to begin to control the size, weight, quality and price of what we could take to market. We also looked forward to feeding our families with fish that we could afford to eat ourselves. It hasn’t been easy but we have come a long way. Our success has caught the attention of the other communities along our coast who have suffered like we have. They want to learn how they too can protect their blue-water fishing and bring their dying reefs back to health.

Of course we still need help. We have years of mistakes to put right. We need protection from the large and powerful commercial predators who are attacking our stocks. We need investment and training to set up our own marketing channels. We need help to build a life that doesn’t need help.

But we have already shown that working together can change our lives.

It’s only a very small start in a very small corner of Africa but we believe that the lessons we have learned could make a really big difference to coastal communities all over the world. We would like them too, to find, once again, pride and confidence in being able to feed their families and to see their reefs and seas, safe and unthreatened, full of colour and life.

It’s only a small ripple now, but it could turn out to be a really big wave.

Learn more at https://www.oceansalivekenya.org/

Send us Fan Mail

A new episode of 4Nature featuring Laure Katz, Vice President of Blue Nature & Co-Lead Implementation Blue Nature Alliance at Conservation International, is now available on all streaming platforms. In discussion with 4Nature Co-host David Meyers, Laure describes how her early love of marine life has powered her career of protecting the ocean. They discuss her work with Indigenous Papuan communities to protect the global epicenter of marine diversity, the Bird's Head Peninsula (BHP), and how integral it was in the first phase of the project to listen to the needs of the communities with strong ancestral and practical relationships with the Marine Protected Areas. Laure expands on the visionary Blue Nature Alliance and their mission to protect 5% of the global ocean by 2025; practically doubling the marine conservation efforts around the world. 

Listen for insights into Laure’s crucial work to help design and fund community-driven, community-led marine protected areas at the scale of a seascape. 

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of 4Nature, Kim speaks with Mariana Bellot, Technical Advisor at The Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) providing support to Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Cuba, Chile, Peru and Mexico. Mariana and Kim discuss the importance of joining private and public sectors together under the goal of investing in conservation and restoration efforts, and Mariana shares a few financing strategies gaining traction, such as impact investing, blended finance and thematic bonds (rhino bonds, green bonds etc.) Mariana explains how “conservation without resources is only conversation” and how her work with BIOFIN helps secure those resources to build a sustainable future for people and the planet.

“We can turn the economy into a nature-positive economy… Not only conserving what we have but restoring what we’ve lost.”  - Mariana Bellot 

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), connects with 4Nature Co-host David Meyers, on the importance of including agriculture and conservation in conversations together, the power of public and private divesting from industries and activities that are harmful to the environment, his legacy of transformational environmental leadership in Costa Rica, and his mission to promote policy coherence in GEF’s work around the world.   

“All development policies from the central government or from the different sectors should be aligned and aimed to the same goals. We need to create the right incentives so all public and private investments are aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement” 

- Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO of the Global Environment Facility on policy coherence