15 June 2015: The ‘Global Landscapes Forum: The Investment Case’ aimed to support greater private sector funding for sustainable landscapes management. In particular, the event discussed elements of a roadmap for the creation of funding instruments for forests and landscapes that deliver financial, social and environmental returns.

Participants noted that US$200-300 billion could be mobilized for sustainable landscape management, but that financial experts and landscape management professionals need to work together in order to build new financial products. They discussed some of the challenges to building such products, including: engaging local communities; managing ownership and equity; limiting risk; and designing short-term returns on long-term investments. Meeting participants also stressed the need to develop a common language including new metrics to assess risk and returns for sustainable landscape investments.

Suggestions from participants included: building systems that provide local communities with access to financing; establishing partnerships between financial agencies and donor countries to guarantee investments in a “demonstration phase;” and at the landscape level, pairing private sector investments with public funding for other projects that are not appropriate for private financing.

In preparing for the event, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) released a blog post highlighting the importance of: recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, including the rights of access to capital and markets; understanding and recognizing the potential on returns from investments in landscape management; and further exploring the potential of landscape restoration. The post also discusses the importance of managing risk and reducing the costs of verification as important preconditions to scaling up private sector financing.

The event was organized by CIFOR, the Program on Forests (PROFOR), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank. The outcomes of the event will be discussed during the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) scheduled to take place from 5-6 December 2015, on the margins of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). CIFOR is part of the CGIAR Consortium. [World Agroforestry Centre Press Release] [CIFOR Press Release] [GLF Press Release] [CIFOR Press Release]