Environmental Funders Networkconservation Archives

How funders can make conservation more effective

Nida Al-Fulaij, People's Trust for Endangered Species, and Becky Holmes, The Helvellyn Foundation How funders can make conservation more effective

Posted on 30 May 2023

Whatever the scale, and wherever the location, most of our funding could be better spent if we ensure the work being proposed is based on reliable evidence, whether that be from academic literature, from centuries (or millennia) of local understanding, or from other sources. Funders can be instrumental in encouraging applicants to check the available evidence for the actions they are proposing, to ensure they have the best chance of success.

Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, effectiveness

Catherine Bryan, Synchronicity Earth and EFN COP15 in Montreal: Reasons to be cheerful?

Posted on 2 Mar 2023

COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity has set a course for nations to significantly step up their actions to halt the loss of biodiversity. But will the new ‘plan of action’ for nature adopted at COP15 – termed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework – succeed? In this blog, Catherine shares her personal reflections on the conference and the 'reasons to be cheerful', despite the challenges left unresolved.

Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, COP15, indigenous peoples, policy work

Katy Scholfield, Arcus Foundation Ancestral Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples Are Essential to Conservation

Posted on 6 May 2022

In this blog, Katy Scholfield aims to help build awareness and attend to the intersection of social and environmental justice to bring about increasing recognition and respect for the intrinsic value of all beings, human and nonhuman. This blog explores the Arcus Foundation's Great Apes and Gibbons Program goal of reconciling the well-being and resilience of local, Indigenous, and forest-dependent communities with wildlife conservation objectives.

Keywords: communities, conservation, human rights, indigenous peoples, intersectionality

Jim Pettiward, Synchronicity Earth The World Conservation Congress: A message from Marseille

Posted on 24 Nov 2021

With large-scale environmental events such as the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress (IUCN WCC) and the upcoming UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP15) gaining more attention – particularly among mainstream media – what can environmental funders do to support their grantees and help to ensure their ideas and concerns are heard within these spaces? In this piece, Jim Pettiward explains how Synchronicity Earth championed its partners and helped to promote a broad and diverse range of voices at IUCN WCC this year.

Keywords: advocacy, conservation, indigenous peoples, policy work

Byron Swift, Re:wild Improving the effectiveness of philanthropy for international conservation

Posted on 14 Oct 2021

How can we maximize the effectiveness of grant-making in the international conservation field? This article is based on my experience in international environmental conservation, both as head of implementing nonprofits for 35 years, and as a foundation grant officer supporting in-country organizations for 15 years. I have witnessed both very effective – and ineffective – grant making practices, and would like to share my perspectives on best practices.

Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, effectiveness, funding overseas

Jonny Hughes and Neil Burgess, UNEP-WCMC Action for nature must be informed by science and knowledge or we risk wasting precious time and money

Posted on 21 Jul 2021

Applied research ensures that actions to combat global challenges such as biodiversity loss are effective, resources are used efficiently, and outcomes for nature and people are understood and sustained. But government funding for such research is being reduced, just when we need it most.

Keywords: agriculture, biodiversity, conservation, research

Jon Cracknell and Harriet Williams, The Hour is Late Into the Fourth Dimension: Funding with a ‘discourses’ lens in mind

Posted on 8 Jul 2021

When thinking about how to focus their environmental giving, funders often think about three dimensions of work they can support: the thematic issue addressed, the approach used and the location or geography of the work. Jon and Harriet argue that funders tend to inhabit a fourth dimension, values (or discourses), which consciously or not bound the limits of their giving.

Keywords: conservation, effectiveness, justice, systems change

Deborah Long, Scottish Environment Link, and Julie Christie, EFN Life after LIFE: the value of landscape-scale, multi-annual funding programmes

Posted on 11 Mar 2021

Biodiversity projects by their nature often require sustained investment until a clear tipping point has been reached. Equally, the factors driving nature loss and biodiversity decline are pervasive: large-scale action, able to bring a suite of habitats and entire ecosystems back to health, is a demonstrably effective mechanism to restore biodiversity at a scale where it is more likely to survive into the future. EU LIFE funding has provided this large-scale, long-term funding for landscape-level conservation. On leaving the EU, Scotland and the rest of the UK are no longer eligible to apply for LIFE funding and there are currently no proposals on how it will be replaced. So what are the options going forward?

Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, effectiveness, joined-up-thinking, restoration

Salisha Chandra How can funders better support their grantees in measuring the impact of conservation efforts?

Posted on 11 Dec 2020

For conservation to truly be successful in stemming the ongoing biodiversity losses being experienced across the globe, we need to make concerted efforts to measure the impact of specific interventions, thereby generating evidence to inform the development of more impactful conservation strategies in the future. As part of an MPhil in Conservation Leadership at the University of Cambridge, Salisha Chandra undertook a research project to generate insights into and best practices in conservation impact measurement and reporting. Here are the key recommendations to emerge from her research for conservation funders to encourage better monitoring and evaluation practice by their grantees.

Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, effectiveness

Amy Forshaw, Whitley Fund for Nature COVID-19: The view from Whitley Fund for Nature

Posted on 31 Jul 2020

Whitley Fund for Nature supports grassroots conservation leaders in the Global South, for whom the effects of the pandemic have been profound. Across our network of over 200 conservationists in more than 80 countries, many are facing delays to urgent projects, reduced income from livelihoods based on ecotourism, or an increase in harmful activities by people who are struggling to survive. But our winners never cease to inspire us with their ability to adapt to challenging circumstances, writes Amy Forshaw from Whitley Fund for Nature.

Keywords: biodiversity, climate change, communities, conservation, COVID-19, grassroots, women

Keyword “conservation”