World Wildlife Fund

Conservation Finance e-Resources (PDF, 816k)
This valuable e-resource is provided by WWF's Center for Conservation Finance to assist any individual with an interest in finding ways to help sustainably finance conservation. Various conservation finance publications, descriptions and examples of actual applications of conservation finance techniques with links to relevant databases and Web sites are provided. The e-document is laid out in a user friendly format with text hyperlinks to move you throughout the document, and is organized into three main sections:

• WWF Conservation Finance related publications
• A categorized summary of Conservation Finance techniques
• Links to other Conservation Finance related databases

A hard copy of this resource is not available.

WWF-Central America Freshwater Program Case Study (PDF, 877k)

WWF-Central America Freshwater Program Case Study
© WWF

The cloud forests of Guatemala's Sierra de las Minas Bioshpere Reserve and 63 permanent rivers provide essential freshwater resources to surrounding communities for domestic consumption as well as to an array of industrial, agricultural, service sector and hydro-electric users located along the Motagua and Polochic river valleys. However, deforestation, slash-and-burn agriculture, forest fires and dredging in the upper, middle and lower watershed areas are damaging local forest and freshwater ecosystems, as well as downstream marine biodiversity in the Mesoamerican Reef. To help mitigate these threats, WWF's Center for Conservation Finance is working with WWF-Central America on a Sierra de las Minas Water Fund Project designed to promote voluntary payment for environmental services and to link downstream water users with upstream forest conservation within and adjacent to the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve (SMBR).

If you are interested in obtaining a hard copy of this report please contact us. 

Financing Species Conservation (PDF, 919k)

Financing Species Conservation
© WWF

Wildlife provides countless biological, social, and economic benefits, and inspires human imagination across the globe. Yet according to the IUCN Red List, nearly 1,000 animal species are critically endangered and 4,500 are endangered or vulnerable. Protecting these species requires significant investment, and traditional one-time funding sources alone cannot provide adequate funding. This guide describes more than 30 financing mechanisms for species conservation and includes practical examples of how each mechanism has been implemented in the field. The guide will prove useful to natural resource managers, conservation and development professionals, government agencies, local communities, and others interested in sustainable wildlife conservation.

If you are interested in obtaining a hard copy of this report please contact us. 

Business Plan (PDF, 1.98M)

Business Plan
© WWF

The Center for Conservation Finance has developed a comprehensive business plan that describes our work and the financial tools and mechanisms we use to solve complex environmental problems with creative financial solutions. WWF believes the conservation finance approach to nature conservation is unique, innovative, and has great potential to leverage money for the environment, as WWF has already proven through the use of these techniques over the past 15 years. Read along to see how WWF's Center for Conservation Finance provides a unique opportunity to help generate the conservation capital necessary to provide creative, effective, and sustainable solutions to some of the world's most serious environmental problems.

If you are interested in obtaining a hard copy of this report please contact us. 

Raising Revenues for Protected Areas (all in PDF)
English (822k) || Français (1.02M)
Español (977k) || Chinese (450k)

Raising Revenues for Protected Areas (English Version)
© WWF

Included in this section is a comprehensive guide to financing protected areas. In an age of government budget cuts and declining international aid, this guide is intended a practical tool for those involved in and interested in how protected areas can be creatively funded. The guide covers government budget allocations; grants and donations; and user fees, taxes, fines, and other revenues generated to fund protected areas. Included are examples of how such mechanisms are hard at work around the world and WWF's role in their development and implementation.

If you are interested in obtaining a hard copy of this report (in English, French, Spanish or Chinese) please contact us

Central Africa Financing Mechanisms
English (PDF, 405k) | French (PDF, 861k)

Central Africa Financing Mechanisms
© WWF

Based on the priority actions identified through the Yaoundé Summit Declaration process, it was clear to the Central African Heads of State and other stakeholders that a feasibility study would be necessary in order to analyze the opportunities and constraints for introducing new conservation finance mechanisms in Central Africa. The study was completed in January 2002 and covers the recommendations for conservation finance mechanisms in Central Africa -- including environmental trust funds, debt relief mechanisms, forestry-based carbon offset projects, user fees, charges and taxes, and private sector initiatives.

If you are interested in obtaining a hard copy of this report please contact us.

Evaluation of the Americas Account of Perú and the Fondo de las Américas del Perú (September 2003)
  English (PDF, 737) || Spanish (PDF, 710k)

Evaluation of the Americas Account of Colombia (April 2003)
  English (PDF, 906k) || Spanish (PDF, 856k)

With support from USAID, WWF evaluated two of the Americas Funds established under the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative.

If you are interested in obtaining a hard copy of these reports please contact us.

Madagascar's Experience with Swapping Debt for the Environment: Debt-for-Nature Swaps and Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Debt Relief (2003) (PDF, 623k)
Madagascar is one of only a few countries in the world that has had experience with both commercial and bilateral debt-for-nature swaps and has also committed to allocate a portion of HIPC debt relief savings to the environmental sector. A case study by Melissa Moye and Jean-Paul Paddack describes Madagascar's experience.

Financing Marine Conservation: A Menu of Options (PDF, 4.62M)
Without sufficient funding to finance effective management of marine resources, there is a great risk that marine protected areas may become little more than paper parks and that international agreements for managing marine resources may turn out to be little more than statements of good intentions. This guide describes over 30 mechanisms for financing marine conservation, both through raising revenues and providing economic incentives. Included with the descriptions are real examples of how these mechanisms have been implemented around the world. It is intended as a practical guide to familiarize conservation professionals with a menu of options to creatively and sustainably finance marine and coastal conservation.

If you are interested in obtaining a hard copy of this report please contact us.

Healthy Reefs and Fish, Healthy Business and Hobby: A Sustainable Future for the Marine Ornamental Trade (PDF, 367k)
by Bruce Bunting, WWF, and Marshall Meyers, PIJAC (OFI Journal, May 2002)

Butterfly fish group swimming above a coral reef in the Red Sea
© WWF-Canon / Jürgen Freund

WWF and its partners four years ago spearheaded a coalition of international conservation organizations, industry representatives, public aquariums and hobbyist groups to form the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC). Among the key concepts behind MAC is the belief that the local communities, the private sector and consumers have a vast potential to become a major force for coral reef conservation, by enabling consumers to identify marine aquarium organisms that were collected in an environmentally safe manner.

Buy a Fish, Buy a Coral, Save a Reef: The Importance of Economic Incentives to Sustain Conservation (HTML format)
Opening Plenary Speech at Marine Ornamentals 2001, by Bruce Bunting, Vice President of World Wildlife Fund US and member of the MAC Board of Directors