Why suitable finance for holistic landscape restoration matters: ensuring a thriving planet for future generations.

To be effective, landscape restoration initiatives must have access to reliable sources of funding that meet their needs in terms of timing, scale, and returns expectations. However, currently, most landscape initiatives depend on grant funding on a project-by-project basis. The search for grant funding is time-consuming and attention-absorbing, shifting focus away from the actual activities they were established to carry out. Further, philanthropic and public grants are not sufficient for landscape restoration initiatives to reach scale. There needs to be a total, blended scheme that includes private investment capital.

To reach the quantity and type of funding needed to scale up landscape restoration worldwide, we need to:

• transition towards process-level funding, i.e. flexible, long-term funding that landscape partnerships can rely on,
• build the required funding infrastructure i.e. through concessional or patient capital, taxes and subsidies that unlock private sector finance, including large-scale investment capital.

Reaching these objectives is referred to as Landscape Finance. The concept of Landscape Finance draws from related, rapidly developing fields including impact investing, conservation finance, collaborative place-based impact investing, blended finance, and inclusive green growth. Landscape finance comprises all the financial streams necessary to realise long-term holistic landscape restoration. This includes sustainable financial streams to make regenerative land use and related business commercially viable.

Who this chapter is for

Landscape finance knowledge shouldn’t be limited to finance specialists. Anyone working on a landscape-scale restoration project can benefit from understanding the role of finance in effective landscape restoration projects.

This guide is accessible to those who don’t have advanced finance knowledge but would like to learn the basic concepts and options for landscape finance, including investments, philanthropy, governmental funding, carbon finance, and payments for ecosystem services (PES).

While this guide is geared towards large-scale holistic landscape finance, it may also apply to you if you’re looking for funding for individual projects or businesses within a landscape.

Landscape funding needs over time

The image below outlines a typical landscape’s funding needs over time. The main takeaway is that different types of funding are required at different points in time. Importantly, however, funding may shift from being primarily grant funding (with no expectations of financial returns) towards being primarily investments (when business cases and projects have been developed that can absorb capital which expects to be repaid over time). Additionally, as landscape activities expand, the scale of funding may also increase over time.

There’s no one size fits all. Flexible (unrestricted) and long-term grant funding (process funding) is critical to driving holistic, large-scale landscape restoration. It de-risks investments by providing low-cost capital to landscape activities that are not investable and not expected to generate financial revenues. It also allows development of investable businesses and projects, such as the commercialisation of regenerative products like olive oil or almonds and other environmentally beneficial products like carbon or biodiversity credits. These in turn raise private investment. Funders and investors can consider how investments might be complemented with grant funding and other forms of support (and vice versa).

Investing at landscape level: the case of AlVelAl

Source: Recommendations on delivering the European green deal through landscape restoration: inspirational, social, natural, and financial returns
The practice of these different landscape funding needs over time can be seen in the Altiplano Estepario landscape initiative. Since 2014, AlVelAl Association with its 400+ members have been working on an ambitious 4 Returns landscape restoration initiative in an area spanning 1 million hectares in the Altiplano Estepario in South-eastern Spain. Commonland has actively supported AlVelAl since 2014 with long-term and unrestricted grant funding. AlVelAl was able to roll out initiatives to help farmers transition to regenerative agriculture in the landscape, kick-start and support 4 Returns regenerative businesses, restore natural zones by optimising ecological functioning, and roll out projects designed to inspire others to join their restoration effort. Providing initial funding without restrictions on the use of funding has helped leverage the same amount from third-party donors and investors.

In 2021, Commonland developed a valuation tool to estimate the 20-year net present value (NPV) of landscape restoration. The estimated value of natural, social, and financial returns of restoring only 7.5% of the total land area of the Altiplano Estepario was between 35-218 million USD.

To help tackle challenges with attracting investment into the landscape, mainly the higher risk of the new business models required, AlVelAl has promoted the development of a 4 Returns business environment (read more about these types of innovation networks) to commercialise regenerative products from the landscape, including La Almendrehesa for almonds, Hábitat for olive oil, and AlVelAl Foods to support commercialisation of regenerative products from the territory. These businesses have become a vehicle to attract investment funding in the landscape that is coordinated with and complementary to the broader landscape restoration initiative. The objective continues to jointly create a thriving regenerative economy which can generate financial returns for the landscape.

In this chapter, you will explore various funding options including investment funding, philanthropy, government funding, and payment for environmental services, with a special emphasis on carbon credits, for a comprehensive landscape restoration programme. Each section explains what this funding type is, when it’s relevant for you, and how you can learn more about it.

Philanthropy

What is it?

Philanthropy literally means “love of humanity” (‘phil’ = loving, ‘anthrop’ = humanity) and concerns gifts or donations from individuals (donors, supporters) or organisations (foundations or funds).

Philanthropic donations are a good option for starting a holistic landscape restoration programme as private supporters (as opposed to public funding) frequently have more flexibility to be innovative. A private donor or organisation can choose to take risks and be involved for the long term, they are not dependent on political cycles. In addition, they are more likely to fit the holistic nature of landscape restoration as they are not bound by a ministry or department. Finally, they are also in a position to support unrestricted (not yet determined, or long-term) costs, as opposed to earmarked projects, as they do not have to justify their support to taxpayers or shareholders.

At Commonland, we aim to develop long-term, trust-based partnerships with our funders (see also the 4 Returns principles). This is because restoring natural processes, as well as changing human systems, takes time. In our experience, you need at least 20 years (one generation) to transform a degraded landscape. To create real impact together in a world where we work with nature-based solutions, it makes sense to let nature lead the financing too.

For the same reason, to let nature lead the way, we are grateful for having a few steady funders who support us with unrestricted donations. This means the funder does not specify how the money must be spent. Unrestricted donations are an important condition for any landscape restoration effort since it’s an explorative field. Many lessons are learned along the way, and it is necessary to adjust your way of working when needed. Unrestricted funding as a start-off and basis layer to your operation allows for a space to test, experiment, build social networks, etc. (see the example of AlVelAl above to see the value of process funding).

This is also the most efficient way of funding (with donations), as less time and effort go into a strict monitoring, stop-start and reporting cycle that is characteristic of so-called “project-led funding”. Hence more funds can flow towards work on the ground.

Project funding is the most common way of funding work through philanthropic donations currently. This means that donations are specifically dedicated towards a project with a beginning and end, and with a restricted budget. This can also be helpful in landscape restoration, for example, when acquiring capital (machinery or land), in combination with a loan (to reduce risk), or for work that is meant to be transferable to the public domain (with funding becoming public in the long term).

There are many ways of raising philanthropic funding. An easy way to start is by writing to foundations. In many countries, there are public indexes of all charitable foundations that support charities, with a description of their mission and goals. Some have open application calls and others are by invitation only.

A common option for start-up funds is a crowdfunding campaign, for which there are many open online platforms. This does require a careful strategy, launch and network to pitch your idea to. If you don’t have this network yet, it is advisable to search for a platform where a receptive audience may already be tuned into your mission or sector.

Sometimes, a business can be a good partner for your organisation, and you can start a sponsorship. Do note that many companies have their own foundation, a separate legal entity, which works parallel to a CSR team (often part of a marketing and communications department) that is based within the company structure.

Be aware that raising funds can take a lot of time and dedication. Therefore, many organisations have an employee or volunteer who is solely dedicated to this, or their role may be combined with marketing and communications. In addition, it is good to note that raising funds from scratch takes time. It can frequently take a year before the first donations start coming in, as foundations have funding cycles, and a network of donors takes time to build up. The position of a fundraiser frequently becomes stronger over time, and it may take up to 3-5 or even 10 years before major donations come in.

It may also be wise to consider fundraising teamwork. No single person can raise funds on their own, the entire organisation needs to be involved. Financial colleagues need to assist with the budgeting priorities, field-work colleagues need to deliver content material for applications and marketing colleagues need to support communication and awareness building.

Together, you have a larger network of potential funders than alone. For this reason, it can be helpful to ask for help from a board or other governing body, as their network can be interesting for fundraising purposes. Equally, once you have a few supportive donors, who are engaged with your organisation and mission, it is possible that they become an ambassador and can assist with their network, knowledge, and experience.

When is it relevant for you?

Anyone with a registered charity (each country has its own process and law around charities) who performs work can receive charitable donations. Many countries know a tax system that allows tax benefits for charitable or non-for-profit organisations.

Learn more

• Funding options to support Commonland
• Keela offers a large database with Fundraising Tools: here.
• Creating a donor profile
• Gift agreement template
• Filantropie terug naar de tekentafel (in Dutch)
• Recommendations on delivering the european green deal through landscape restoration (see specifically recommendation 3 on page 6)

Governmental funding

What is it?

Governmental funding (or public funding or subsidies) is financed through taxes and is granted from either continental (like the EU), national, regional, or local governmental institutions. Governmental funding is very similar to philanthropy, in the sense that it is a donation, except the process and funder are different. The goal of public funding can be to foster innovation, finance feasibility studies, fund relevant research, or in the context of landscape restoration restore, conserve or regenerate nature. Compared to private funders, subsidies might require a long proposal in which all activities are detailed. It might also require extensive reporting. However, there are a lot of public grants available for landscape restoration, especially to foster the transition to a sustainable agriculture system. Subsidies can offer a great kick-start for a new product, service, business, or concept that has ecological and social value.

When is it relevant for you?

Public grants are relevant if you have a programme, project, initiative, or plan that aligns with the strategic goals and policy instruments on a certain domain of the specific government. Make sure to do a quick but thorough pre-assessment of your succeeding opportunities before going all in. This includes setting up a call with the grant provider to determine whether it is worth the effort for you to submit a proposal. Also, be aware of the available funding in relation to the expected competition.

Learnings from practice – The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve carbon mechanism
The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve covers 33% of the Mexican state of Querétaro. Grupo Ecologico Sierra Gorda (GESG) creates community-based models to regenerate and conserve old-growth forests while providing diverse income for communities. More than thirty years of work is now manifesting in community benefits and the protection of Mexico’s beautiful natural heritage.

Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda led the development of a local carbon mechanism together with the State Government in order to channel payments for ecosystem services to smallholder landowners in exchange for improved land management practices with the support of GESG, such as removing livestock (which was allowed to graze freely) thereby permitting natural regeneration of the forest floor. The financial resources are generated by the state government via a simple and effective annual tax on private vehicles.

According to Laura Pérez-Arce, Coordinator at GESG, the Biodiverse Carbon Model is effective in regenerating forests while creating incentives for local landowners: “We have developed a voluntary framework to offset carbon emissions, verified under the ICAT [Initiative for Climate Action Transparency] guidelines, involving viable protocols and procedures, to quantify the amount of carbon in local oak forests. This framework has produced palpable economic benefits that clearly override the opportunity costs.”

Now, GESG is supporting other local civil society organisations and state governments to replicate this model elsewhere and unlock this source of financing without having to spend the same amount of time and tackle the steep learning curve associated with it.

Learn more

• For Dutch projects visit the overview of possibilities from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.
• The European Commission’s Single Electronic Data Interchange Area (SEDIA) lets you search for funding and tender projects based on programmes or check here for European grants.

Investment funding

What is it?

Investments within the context of a landscape restoration initiative refer to the financial resources that are allocated to support activities that, in addition to inspirational, social, and natural returns, can also generate financial returns. This differs from philanthropic funding, as outlined below, in that investments most likely require the potential for revenue generation to pay back investors at some point in the future.

There are a few types of investments, but two main ones:

1. Debt financing refers to borrowing money and repaying it with interest. This type of funding is obtained through loans (often directly from a single lender), bonds (often from many different lenders), and lines of credit (often from a local financial institution). Importantly, lenders do not have ownership in the company or project and do not share in its profits.
2. Equity financing means selling ownership in the form of a portion of the company in exchange for investment. These investors become owners (shareholders) and are entitled to a portion of their profits. They can typically also influence the management of the company, given that ownership comes with voting rights.

Of course, there are other types of investments, such as convertible financing, which can be an in-between of debt and equity, as well as many innovative finance models.

Sources of investment funding:

1. Governmental – governments, especially at national and supranational levels, play a big role in allocating investment funding to government-aligned initiatives (such as landscape restoration which benefits society at large). This predominantly takes the form of debt (loans) from national development finance institutions (DFIs), multilateral development banks (MDBs), export credit agencies (ECAs), and initiatives that promote private sector mobilisation.
2. Philanthropic – foundations, non-profit organisations, and charitable trusts providing funding for environmental or social causes.
3. Corporate – companies investing in landscape restoration projects as part of their corporate social responsibility initiatives.
4. Impact investing – investors (including high net worth individuals and other angel investors) seeking both financial returns and social or environmental impact, such as impact funds, socially responsible investment funds, and environmentally focused investment funds.
5. Community-based – financing provided by local communities through microfinance initiatives, community-based fundraising, and other forms of local investment.
6. Market-based – financing is generated through the sale of carbon credits, payments for ecosystem services, and other market-based mechanisms.
7. Financial institutions – loans provided by banks, credit unions, and community development finance institutions.

When is it relevant for you?

Investment funding may be appropriate in your context when you have identified, developed, or are developing business cases (e.g., companies or co-operatives) or projects (e.g., building a school or a hospital, or developing a renewable energy project) that can generate revenues and therefore pay back an investor over time.

Also, it’s important to analyse the existing sources of revenue for the landscape, i.e. its economic drivers, as that is likely going to be the most relevant way to find investment opportunities. This might include revenues generated by sales of products from the territory, e.g., loans to farmers to support a transition to regenerative practices, but also services such as ecotourism.

Learn more:

For more information and tools around investment financing, the Adventure Finance Online Companion is a good resource.

• ‘Attracting Private Investments for Sustainable Landscapes: A guide’ (WWF and IDH, March 2022)
• The podcast ‘Investing in Regenerative Agriculture’ features the pioneers in the regenerative food and agriculture space to learn more about how to put our money to work to regenerate soil, people, local communities and ecosystems while making a fair return.

Payments for Environmental Services

Payments for Environmental Services (also known as payments for ecosystem services or PES) is a market-based mechanism where payment is made by a buyer (typically a government, company, or consumer) to a farmer, landowner, or community, in exchange for providing, preserving, or enhancing a specific environmental or ecosystem service. PES provide incentives to landowners and managers to change their land use practice or even to take land out of production so that crucial ecosystem functioning and services can be increased or preserved. PES target a broad range of environmental services, such as the pollination of crops by insects, sequestration of carbon by trees and soils, or the purification of water by an inland wetland.

An example of a PES project is the Ecomakala project in Eastern DR Congo. Here, trees are planted to protect the Virunga National Park. For every hectare of trees planted, the local associations get US$ 150 to provide seedlings from the nursery and organise communities. The farmers also get US$ 100 for the same hectare to plant and maintain the plantation. Find out more here.

PES is a market-based mechanism to encourage farmers and land managers to conserve natural resources. It can also be seen as a policy instrument in the case of applying PES schemes on a communal, national, or regional level (IPBES, 2022).

There are several types of Payments for Environmental Services (PES), including:

1. Proxy Payments: A direct payment made to a landowner or a community for preserving or enhancing a specific environmental service, such as watershed protection, reforestation, or biodiversity conservation.
2. Carbon Credits: In the voluntary carbon market, individuals, companies, and organisations can purchase carbon credits to offset their emissions and demonstrate their commitment to reducing their carbon footprint. Read more about it below.
3. Ecological services payments: A payment made to a landowner or a community for preserving or enhancing a specific ecosystem service, such as water quality, soil conservation, or pollination.
4. Biodiversity offset payments: A payment made by a company or a government to compensate for the loss of biodiversity resulting from a development project, such as a dam or a mine.
5. Water services payments: A payment made to a landowner or a community for preserving or improving a water source, such as a river, lake, or aquifer.
6. Ecosystem restoration payments: A payment made to a landowner or a community for restoring degraded ecosystems, such as forests, wetlands, or grasslands.

The first planning stage of PES schemes and the participation of stakeholders is key to ensuring their effectiveness and adaptability to local conditions (IPBES, 2022). The number of payments for ecosystem services is based on the opportunity cost of conservation (= the farmer’s/land manager’s loss of income), and not on the monetary value of the environmental service. This often brings with it a long process of negotiation with the beneficiaries. It can help to bring in an intermediary for this process.

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programmes not only provide environmental benefits but also generate financial and social returns for communities. By incentivising a transition to regenerative agriculture or nature conservation practices, PES programmes create job opportunities and support alternative business models. A new industry focused on measuring, monitoring, and trading environmental services has emerged in recent years. Through PES, farmers can contribute to society beyond food production and become agents of environmental change, helping to preserve natural resources for future generations.

Carbon credits as an established PES tool

Compulsory versus voluntary carbon markets

Since the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the subsequent establishment of carbon markets, CO2 equivalents have transformed into a commodity that can be bought, sold, and traded. The Kyoto Protocol served as the foundation for the world’s first mandatory carbon markets, including the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). Today, more than half of all emissions from energy-intensive industries are offset through emission certificates within a cap-and-trade system. This emission system is subject to strict regulations and is mandatory in nature.

Voluntary carbon markets differ from mandatory emissions trading systems because there is no initial limit on the number of emissions allowed. Anyone can participate and they follow a different set of rules. This means that organisations not required to participate in mandatory emissions trading systems can still purchase carbon credits to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. However, it’s recommended that organisations invest in cleaner technology first before resorting to offsetting, following the ‘mitigation hierarchy’. In the voluntary carbon market, credits go through third-party verification to ensure claimed emissions reductions are real and permanent. While they are not legally required and do not have the same regulations as mandatory credits, they still undergo strict validation processes.

Offsetting residual emissions usually is done through carbon projects. An organisation interested to purchase carbon credits can use a registry of a carbon standard to search and buy carbon offsets (or ‘credits’). It can also make an ‘emission reduction purchase agreement’ (ERPA) with project developers who are effectively reducing GHG emissions through an accredited project type. ERPAs ensure more transparency around a carbon project and contribute to a high-integrity voluntary carbon market (ICVCM): a market that follows strict guidelines to ensure transparency, accountability, and environmental integrity. It requires third-party verification of emissions reductions, adherence to recognised carbon standards, and robust monitoring and reporting systems to offer reliable and credible carbon credits.

Types of carbon credits

Carbon credits are a way of incentivising the reduction of carbon emissions. The main difference between avoidance and removal in the light of carbon credits lies in the method used to reduce carbon emissions. Avoidance credits are earned by implementing practices that avoid the release of carbon emissions into the atmosphere, such as using improved cookstoves that reduce the amount of fuel needed to cook food, thereby reducing the amount of carbon emissions released during cooking. Removal credits, on the other hand, are earned by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, such as through afforestation or soil sequestration, which involves planting trees or implementing farming practices that capture and store carbon in the soil. It’s important to note that one carbon credit represents one metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent that has been avoided or removed from the atmosphere.

When is it relevant for you?

The voluntary carbon market can be an effective strategy to fund and scale up landscape restoration activities. Carbon finance helps to generate important benefits along the 4 returns framework, including natural, social, and economic returns, and to create inspiration for land users. It’s a relatively new financing opportunity, however, and a bigger scale is still needed, either through large areas or numerous landowners (with large or small pieces of land). The process also takes time: including the form the preparation phase (from pre-feasibility to project design & implementation) to generating and paying for the carbon credits. So, while carbon financing is an emerging option for landscape restoration initiatives, it is always a good idea to have a diversity of income streams, supporting or developing alternative business models, and not put all your eggs in one basket.

Learning from practice: A recipe to preserve dryland forests in Africa

The Commonland African Improved Cookstove Programme is combatting deforestation in the largest cross-border conservation area on earth, the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. The flagship project was launched in 2020, providing nearly 10,000 fuel-efficient cooking stoves to low-income households in the Simalaha Community Conservancy. It has been a resounding success. By reducing the demand for firewood, we’re not only safeguarding the forest but also improving the lives of those who depend on it.

For communities in and around the Simalaha Community Conservancy, cooking using wood or charcoal on open fires is a way of life. However, this practice poses significant health risks due to the inhalation of smoke, and it also places a heavy burden on women who spend countless hours collecting firewood each day. The mission is to help conserve forests by decreasing the amount of wood used as cooking fuel, while simultaneously providing the community with a sustainable revenue stream through carbon credits. Our approach not only addresses the environmental challenges but also improves the quality of life for rural women.

Our team has been responsible for sourcing fuel-efficient stoves and distributing them to low-income households as part of a five-year project. The project has been extended twice, bringing the total possible duration to 15 years. This extended timeline will allow us to continue our work in mitigating deforestation and supporting local communities in the long term. Find out more about carbon finance for landscape restoration with 4 Returns with the Commonland African Improved Cookstove Programme in the video below.

Learn more

• Within the programme “Accelerating landscape regeneration at scale” (2022 – 2024) funded by the COmON foundation and implemented by Wetlands International, Commonland and Landscape Finance lab, several tools and guidelines are currently under development and will be posted here as soon as they’re available.
• Fourteen pressing questions and answers on the carbon market. In 2022, Commonland and Wij.land spoke in a public session about the potential of a carbon market in landscape restoration. In this story, you can find the most frequently asked questions from this session, including their answers.
• A buyer’s guide to soil carbon offsets. Several protocols for crediting soil carbon have emerged to tackle this complexity. To help address the opacity in today’s market, (carbon)plan systematically reviewed 14 soil carbon protocols on 33 technical dimensions. In this guide, you’ll find the results of this research and concrete help for evaluating your soil carbon offsetting choices.

Getting into action

You now have an overview of the different types of funding for your landscape, and which types are most suitable for the different phases of your landscape initiative. From this, you can get started on strategic financing for your landscape initiative. These are some steps to get started on your financing journey.

1. Develop a shared landscape finance strategy. Transformative change needs transformative finance. As we’ve learned in this chapter, this means we need long-term, trust-based funding. Funders are less likely to support one single organisation than an established landscape partnership. So, you’ll need to work together with a variety of partners in your landscape to develop a shared financing strategy. This strategy can be adaptive and change over time. But it needs full alignment from all partners. Find tools to support this process in the Integrated Landscape Management Tool Guide – section 3.4.
2. Make your landscape plan investable through a blended landscape investment portfolio, possibly as part of a Landscape Plan. This plan includes identifying and providing a clear description of all investable opportunities, whether new or established companies, projects, finance for farmers directly, or others. Each opportunity should specify what type of funding and/or other support is needed: process funding, project-specific grant funding, investments, government subsidies, and/or other kinds of support. Learn more about this in the chapter Developing a Landscape Plan and tools to support this in the Integrated Landscape Management Tool Guide – section 4.4.
3. To be successful in carbon finance more specifically, the first step is to conduct a pre-feasibility study to identify potential carbon projects. Then, a feasibility study should be carried out to determine the project’s technical, financial, and environmental viability. Once the project is deemed feasible, a suitable carbon standard and methodology must be selected and applied. This will involve developing a project design document (PDD) outlining the project’s baseline and monitoring plan. Certification of the project’s emissions reductions can then be obtained through a third-party verification body (VVB). Finally, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) should be carried out to ensure that the project continues to meet the requirements of the chosen carbon standard. Successful implementation of these steps will increase the likelihood of attracting investment and generating revenue through the sale of carbon credits.

Further learning on Landscape Finance

• Join the FAO Local Finance for forest and landscape restoration community here.
• FAO- Local financing mechanisms for forest and landscape restoration. This report provides a helpful introduction to landscape-level finance mechanisms and real-life case studies that aim to achieve positive local impact by maximising the leverage of finance.
• Find a good selection of Landscape Finance Strategy tools in the Integrated Landscape Management Tool Guide – section 3.4.
• The Landscape Investment and Finance Toolkit comprises a three-module process and materials that help landscape initiatives define, develop and find finance for their landscape priorities. The tool guides you through a process to find the types of investors that might be interested in your landscape-specific business cases, and develop pitch materials to successfully acquire that finance.
• The Convergence blended finance primer uses Convergence’s database of historical blended finance transactions to generate unique insights about the blended finance market to date.
• Landscape Finance Glossary (they’re working on a public online display, tbd)
• The Little Book of Investing in Natureprovides an essential overview of the area of biodiversity finance at a time when governments and international negotiators are urgently seeking pragmatic solutions for the twin crises of climate change and the loss of nature.
• A How-To Guide for Blended Finance by Redesigning Development Finance Initiative, a joint initiative of the World Economic Forum and the OECD. A practical guide for Development Finance and Philanthropic Funders to integrate Blended Finance best practices into their organisations.
• Landscape Enterprise Networks connect buyers (governments, companies) to suppliers (land stewards and farmers) that get rewarded for their land- and water management practices.
• Funding Options for Ecosystem Restoration in Central America
  and Africa This report was commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) as part of its efforts to support the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The report provides an overview and assesses funding sources that are relevant for local non-profit organizations implementing ecosystem restoration activities in Central America and Africa.

Which forms of landscape finance are you focusing on, and why? Let us know in the comments!

This guide was written by Alejandro Diaz, Hicham Daoudi, Kilian Walz, Tessa Snaterse, Eva Cappon, Bouke Loohuis and Roos van der Deijl.