International Land Conservation Network Newsletter, November 2021
In this Newsletter:
2021 ILCN/ELCN Global Congress
Share Information About Your Organization or Initiative at the Global Congress
ILCN Director Presents at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) NGO Forum
How to Bring People Together to Unlock Scaled Conservation Finance Impact
What We're Reading
News
2021 ILCN/ELCN Global Congress
We are thrilled to share that more than 650 people from 80 countries have registered for the Global Congress of the International Land Conservation Network and Eurosite – the European Land Conservation Network, which will take place from 8-10 December 2021.
Private and civic land conservation experts and practitioners from around the globe have put together 34 sessions on cases and insights in conservation finance, law and policy, organization and government, land stewardship and management, and landscape-scale conservation and restoration. To learn more, view this short schedule and the detailed program of speakers and session descriptions.
Important Information About the Congress:
The Congress will begin with a Congress Preview for the Americas on December 8, 2021 at 17:00 Eastern Time (US& Canada), for those who will not be able to join certain events due to time differences. The preview will feature the keynote panel: Conservation in the 21st Century - The Green Recovery and Realizing 30x30.
We understand that for various reasons, registrants from the Americas and elsewhere may not be able to participate in sessions live. Please note that all registrants will have access to recordings of events and sessions from about two hours after they air until May 2022.
Register now to join this gathering of our worldwide community of practice. Note that you must register before 10 December in order to access session recordings.
Share Information About Your Organization or Initiative at the Global Congress
Building stronger networks, and a greater understanding of how private land conservation is evolving in different contexts, is central to our shared work. If you wish to share information about your organization, initiative, coalition, posters, resources, research or other materials, you may do so during the Congress through a virtual exhibit called an ‘expo booth.’
Registrants will be able to engage with the booth you create at any time during the Congress. If you are interested in this opportunity, please fill out this form.
ILCN Director Presents at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) NGO Forum
As one of the eight parallel forums of the Fifteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the NGO Forum was held in Kunming, China, September 27 - 28, 2021. More than 400 participants representing governments, enterprises, NGOs, youth groups, women groups, local and indigenous communities, and the public from more than 30 countries across five continents participated in the forum on-site and online. The forum was streamed on the CBD website, twitter, YouTube, Yahoo, Daily Journal, and several Chinese journalist and website including Sina Webo. The total view count was around 500,000.
The forum intended to promote sharing of cutting-edge views, cases, and actions about the negotiation of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, biodiversity mainstreaming, and voluntary commitments from non-state actors, with an aim to contribute to the official CBD COP15 meeting that was held on October 11thin Kunming.
ILCN Director Jim Levitt represented Lincoln Institute and International Land Conservation Network (ILCN) and gave a presentation on “The International Role of Civic Sector Land Trusts and Conservancies in Conserving Biodiversity and Addressing Climate Change" at "Forum-4: Intended Contributions from Non-State Actors and the Post-2020 Goal for Biodiversity Conservation." In Jim’s presentation, he emphasized that ILCN cooperated with organizations and individuals in more than 100 countries on six continents to protect land through private land trusts, using land ownership, easement, lease and other mechanisms. As of 2021, there were approximately 25 million hectares of land protected by private land trusts in North America, 15 million hectares and 4 million hectares in Australia and Europe. Different civil organizations supported conservation projects that were creative, measurably effective, strategically significant, transferable and enduring, setting important international precedents. Levitt also talked about experiences around the world including the use of easements in Chile to protect ecological corridors, the United States to select wind power sites in places with low risk of biodiversity conflicts, NABU to protect watersheds in Germany, and the International Bird League to protect birds across Africa and the Middle East. Migration Corridor, Green Australia was committed to restoring millions of hectares of land in Australia, the case of Ant Forest planting trees in China and protecting animal and plant habitats. In the end, he emphasized the importance of peer learning and international experience exchange.
David Foster at Harvard Forest hosted a roundtable discussion on “Civic Sectors Contribution to Non-State Actors’ Voluntary Commitment” and Jody Gunn, CEO of Australian Land Conservation Alliance showed their voluntary commitment at the Closing Ceremony.
How to Bring People Together to Unlock Scaled Conservation Finance Impact By Helen Rogers and Leigh Whelpton
When we talk about the scale and complexity of intractable social and environmental problems, we are speaking of issues that require collective action. These challenges demand that we step beyond individual mission statements and business models to craft strategies, chart paths forward, and unlock scaled impact—together.
The growth of the conservation finance field is dependent on well-networked communities of practice where people can partner, support, invest in, or otherwise leverage the strength of other individuals and organizations. This is at the heart of the Conservation Finance Network’s efforts, along with our peers and colleagues globally. We need to energize those on the front lines, build shared language, co-develop new and emerging innovations, and replicate success. In other words, we must convene.
Our new guide, “Connect & Mobilize: A Guide to Conservation Finance Convenings,” aggregates the experience and insight of practitioners who have invested deeply in the process of bringing people together across sectors in their respective countries or regions to advance the use of innovative and effective funding and financing strategies. It emphasizes the importance of convening across sectors—not just conservationists and funders, but a collaborative of practitioners from public agencies, private finance and business, community development nonprofits, academic institutions, and philanthropic entities. It highlights the need to think more creatively and holistically about the co-benefits and who values those outcomes. We share gratitude for the International Land Conservation Network, a project of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, for their deep input and support.
By distilling insight on the “who,” “what,” “why,” and “how” of bringing people together, we hope to spur new efforts to partner, support, invest in, or otherwise leverage the strength of others to grow the conservation finance field across countries and regions.
As co-founder of the Conservation Finance Network, Peter Stein in offers the foreword to the guide which we share with you here:
When Willie Sutton, an infamous bank robber from the 20th century who was responsible for 30 plus robberies across the United States and was incarcerated off and on for more than 40 years was asked: Why do you rob banks? His cogent reply was: ‘Because that is where the money is’. Conservation finance convenings and field building endeavors are safer and legal compared to robbing banks but produce a similar result: unlocking capital.
I have been a pioneer practitioner in the conservation finance space for more than 4 decades and have witnessed the very rapid and increased global scale of interest by land conservation NGOs, natural resource public agency leaders, philanthropic and private profit seeking private sector players and academics in this emerging field of practice. As both a Co-Founder of the International Land Conservation Network and the Conservation Finance Network, I am pleased that these networks have collaborated to not just produce this guide but have an ongoing relationship that has helped deliver these convenings in Australia, Chile, Canada and soon in Europe and Southern Africa.
Building on the US based CFN’s experience conducting field building conferences, roundtables and regionally focused workshops, boot camps and trainings, plus the robust and broad stakeholder gatherings that continue in Australia under the guidance of Trust for Nature and the Australian Land Conservation Alliance, users of this guide should have a significant advantage in the design and implementation of future conservation finance field building gatherings, and trainings.
While I personally as well as this emerging finance field can be become quite analytical and focus on esoteric elements of financing structures and metrics, it is still dependent on the people who lead organizations and enterprises that form the backbone of the community and are the true innovators and disseminators of practical and scalable solutions.
This guide does highlight a number of those folks who have taken up the mantle of conservation finance and whom I have great confidence in to continue to build the field and expand to communities and any places that may not have access to or all of the resources in place to utilize conservation finance mechanisms. The field is continuing to grow and evolve and I do hope that users of this guide will become an on-going dynamic resource to help build out best practices and expand access to these financing techniques.
Peter Stein
Managing Director, The Lyme Timber Company
Co-founder, The Conservation Finance Network
Steering Committee Member, International Land Conservation Network
This guide’s release is timed ahead of the 3rd Global Congress of the International Land Conservation Network (ILCN) together with the European Land Conservation Network (ELCN) being held virtually December 8-10, 2021. Register here to join.
Land Matters Podcast: Bogotá Mayor Claudia López, Breaking New Ground
In a recent episode of the Land Matters podcast, Bogotá Mayor Claudia López talks about local climate action, land value capture for more equitable urban development, and the importance of supporting women in society.
“There is no doubt that I have a clear mandate from Bogotá’s people” to act on the environment, López said in the interview, while she was en route to the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. “I think we have a deep social debt, and a deep environmental debt that we have to pay now.”
The 51-year-old López, who was elected in October 2019 as the city’s first female mayor and also the first openly gay mayor, ran under Colombia’s Green Alliance party. Prior to her political career, she worked as a journalist and researcher, and brings a background in urban planning and public administration to the job.
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The Emerging Realization of Mackaye's Vision
Jim Levitt, Director of the ILCN, published in the winter installment of Journeys magazine an article entitled "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants". In this essay, Levitt celebrates the legacy of Benton Mackaye's vision of the Appalachian trail, and explores how visionary leaders and projects can carry forward into the large landscape conservation projects today.
A Mammoth Solution: Scientists look to extinct genes to protect endangered species, climate
In this article from the Harvard Medical School, interviewer Stephanie Dutchen speaks with geneticist George Church about his research on genetically bolstering endangered species to make them adapted to wider ranges of environments.
We are excited to share stories from ILCN members. If you have a successful conservation initiative, story, event, or webinar to share, then please contact us at ILCN@lincolninst.edu.
The mission of the International Land Conservation Network is to connect organizations and people around the world that are accelerating voluntary private and civic sector action that protects and stewards land and water resources.
Learn more at landconservationnetwork.org.
Building stronger networks, and a greater understanding of how private land conservation is evolving in different contexts, is central to our shared work. If you wish to share information about your organization, initiative, coalition, posters, resources, research or other materials, you may do so during the Congress through a virtual exhibit called an ‘expo booth.’
As one of the eight parallel forums of the Fifteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the NGO Forum was held in Kunming, China, September 27 - 28, 2021. More than 400 participants representing governments, enterprises, NGOs, youth groups, women groups, local and indigenous communities, and the public from more than 30 countries across five continents participated in the forum on-site and online. The forum was streamed on the CBD website, twitter, YouTube, Yahoo, Daily Journal, and several Chinese journalist and website including Sina Webo. The total view count was around 500,000.
ILCN Director Jim Levitt represented Lincoln Institute and International Land Conservation Network (ILCN) and gave a presentation on “The International Role of Civic Sector Land Trusts and Conservancies in Conserving Biodiversity and Addressing Climate Change" at "Forum-4: Intended Contributions from Non-State Actors and the Post-2020 Goal for Biodiversity Conservation." In Jim’s presentation, he emphasized that ILCN cooperated with organizations and individuals in more than 100 countries on six continents to protect land through private land trusts, using land ownership, easement, lease and other mechanisms. As of 2021, there were approximately 25 million hectares of land protected by private land trusts in North America, 15 million hectares and 4 million hectares in Australia and Europe. Different civil organizations supported conservation projects that were creative, measurably effective, strategically significant, transferable and enduring, setting important international precedents. Levitt also talked about experiences around the world including the use of easements in Chile to protect ecological corridors, the United States to select wind power sites in places with low risk of biodiversity conflicts, NABU to protect watersheds in Germany, and the International Bird League to protect birds across Africa and the Middle East. Migration Corridor, Green Australia was committed to restoring millions of hectares of land in Australia, the case of Ant Forest planting trees in China and protecting animal and plant habitats. In the end, he emphasized the importance of peer learning and international experience exchange.
David Foster at Harvard Forest hosted a roundtable discussion on “Civic Sectors Contribution to Non-State Actors’ Voluntary Commitment” and Jody Gunn, CEO of Australian Land Conservation Alliance showed their voluntary commitment at the Closing Ceremony. 
Our new guide, “
