Finance for Nature

Karner Blue Capital is a woman-owned and led enterprise which is building global investment strategies dedicated to protecting the planet’s biodiversity, fostering environmental stewardship and improving animal welfare.

We caught up with President and Co-Founder Vicki Benjamin to learn how they prioritise nature-positive investments and current trends and priorities in the finance industry. 

BIOFIN Zambia and high-level partners have published guidelines and listing rules for green bonds to attract investments in projects that will help protect and even restore biodiversity.

Zambia is a country that has faced huge biodiversity loss in recent years and BIOFIN is supporting government and the private sector with identifying innovative solutions to protect and restore nature, while supporting the economic development of the country.

Green bonds have been created as a way to not only protect biodiversity, but to help invest in innovative projects that will bring long-term benefits both to the planet and to investors.

We catch up with Bruno Mweemba, BIOFIN Zambia Project Manager, to learn more.

This week we catch up with Daniela Torres, on her final day working for BIOFIN Mexico, to learn about the work she has been doing with Mexico City on green finance, explains what disclosure frameworks are, and talks about the accelerator fund. 

In this episode we catch up with Anabelle Plantilla, BIOFIN National Coordinator in the Philippine, and Angelique Ogena, Information and Communications Assistant for BIOFIN Philippines. They discuss how the successful crowdfunding campaign 'Together for Tamaraws' was created, promoted and how it will help not only protect a species but also help protect livelihoods.  

The online fundraising campaign was set up tp help conservation frontliners affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This campaign is led by the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) project in the Philippines with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) through its MIMAROPA Regional Office, plus the Biodiversity Management Bureau.

Dedicated rangers and wardens of the Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park (MIBNP) and Tamaraw Conservation Programme (TCP) have been conserving the tamaraw – the world’s rarest and most endangered buffalo species – for decades.

Sadly,  one of the 24 TCP rangers together with 32 of the 35 Taw’buid Mangyan wardens who patrol the area to deter tamaraw hunters and poachers, have lost their jobs due to the MINBP’s closure following community quarantine measures. The wardens also serve as guides and porters for tourism and research expeditions. Now only 23 TCP rangers and three MIBNP wardens are expected to patrol a core area of 2500 hectares inside the 106,655-hectare MIBNP, which hosts at least 480 of the world’s 600 remaining tamaraw.

BIOFIN is working to ensure this important work is protected. 

In this episode of the Finance for Nature Podcast we meet Dwi Irianti Hardiningdyah, the Director of Islamic Financing at the Directorate General of Budget Financing and Risk Management, Ministry of Finance, the Republic of Indonesia. She discusses the development of the Green Sukuk in Indonesia. The Green Sukuk is an Islamic bond structured in a way that the investment is used to finance projects that comply both with certain Islamic values and green or sustainable criteria. The proceeds are used to finance and refinance eligible green projects including renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable building and natural resource management, among others. These innovative financial instruments are used to fund a specific environmentally sustainable infrastructure project. Green Sukuk is in line with the rising trend of green bonds that have been introduced globally to facilitate and promote sustainable and responsible investing.