Advisor to the Environment Minister of Morocco, Ayman Cherkaoui, speaks on the sidelines of the Global Landscapes Forum: The Investment Case, held on 6 June 2016 in London. A Q&A with Ayman Cherkaoui, Advisor to the Environment Minister of Morocco How can the private sector engage in tackling climate change? I see it engaging more, […]
The ‘Global Landscape Forum – the Investment Case’ convened in London earlier this month with the aim of mitigating climate change and reducing poverty through investments in landscape restoration. Events like this one are desperately needed to ensure private-sector involvement in conservation efforts: a 2014-report found that $200-300 billion of investment per year is needed to […]
Managing Director & Vice Chairman of Global Investment Banking at Credit Suisse, Mark Burrows, speaks on the sidelines of the Global Landscapes Forum: The Investment Case, held on 6 June 2016 in London. A Q&A with Mark Burrows, Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Global Investment Banking at Credit Suisse Why invest in sustainable landscapes? […]
We are living in the most explosive era of infrastructure expansion in human history. The G20 nations, when they met in Australia in 2014, argued for between US$60 trillion and US$70 trillion in new infrastructure investments by 2030, which would more than double the global total value of infrastructure. Some of the key players in […]
Today, over 80 million tons of CO2 will be emitted from economies around the world. Tomorrow will be the same, as will the day after that. The emitted amounts of CO2 will likely stay in the atmosphere for hundreds, if not thousands of years, further compounding the challenges in reversing the current and expected effects […]
This is Morocco’s Noor 1 concentrated solar power plant, the first phase of what will eventually be the largest concentrated solar power plant in the world. It is an impressive sight—visible even from space–and it holds the promise of supplying over 500 megawatts of power to over a million Moroccans by 2018. It also embodies […]
President Obama’s trip to Cuba this week accelerated the warming of U.S.-Cuban relations. Many people in both countries believe that normalizing relations will spur investment that can help Cuba develop its economy and improve life for its citizens. But in agriculture, U.S. investment could cause harm instead. For the past 35 years I have studied […]
Laos has conceded a significant amount of land to foreign investors, with estimates placing 15% of the country’s land under foreign control. Such land concessions, or the granting of rights to land, are positioned by the government as critical to economic growth and poverty reduction. But what is the impact of land concessions on farmers? […]
“I have been able to buy clothes, feed and educate my kids. I have I have even started building an extension to my house,” Yolanda says proudly. Yolanda is one of several producers around Quito in Ecuador, supplying goldenberries to Terrafertil – a climate positive business supported by the European Investment Bank via the EcoEnterprises […]
The scale of the global land grab is staggering. While international actors have made excellent progress establishing complaint boards, issuing principles for responsible investment, and securing commitments from multinational corporations, these protections do not chart a clear course of action that communities can follow to protect their lands and natural resources before an investor arrives seeking land. The problem is […]
In London on 10 June 2015, a variety of representatives of the finance community rubbed shoulders with anthropologists, foresters, NGOs and government representatives at the Global Landscapes Forum: The Investment Case. The event was part of a growing multistakeholder movement that seeks to harness the influence of the financial sector to transform rural landscapes. As […]
In June I attended the Global Landscapes Forum: The Investment Case meeting in London. Many good ideas were shared, networks strengthened and many new contacts for our company Nature Services Peru made. But overall, the meeting left me worried. Worried about the growing disconnect between financiers and the 100 million+ land use projects they are […]
A growing number of producers, traders and retailers have over the past few years made zero-deforestation pledges aiming to decouple production of palm oil, soy, beef and other commodities from deforestation impacts. The financial sector, however, has largely remained absent even though it is an important stakeholder as capital is a fundamental component of agricultural […]
As world leaders planned finance strategies for executing the Sustainable Development Goals, we highlighted the many advantages of Integrated Landscape Initiatives. From July 13-16th world leaders and national delegations from more than 150 countries convened in Africa’s diplomatic capital to hammer out the logistics of paying for the post 2015 development agenda. The Financing for Development Conference (FfD3) was the […]
Indonesia has two big goals for 2020 that might seem contradictory: Reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 26 percent, and boost production of several major agricultural commodities, including doubling palm oil production. With agriculture being the single biggest driver of deforestation globally and in Indonesia, many are asking the question: How can […]
