Conservation Trust Funds as one way of safeguarding high biodiversity areas – what is innovative about the LLF

Together with its close partner KfW, the Legacy Landscape Fund (LLF) held a 90 min hybrid event “Conservation Trust Funds as one way of safeguarding high biodiversity areas – what is innovative about the LLF”.

The session elaborated on how to close the global funding gap to safeguard biodiversity in the future and how the LLF adds a new dimension to nature protection with its partnership model, vision for perpetuity and flexible mechanism for innovative conservation financing. Two panels brought together public and private donors, implementing NGOs, and park management authorities to discuss how long-term and flexible financing can best meet on-the ground needs. And how it may enhance the resilience against external shocks to efficiently secure long-term protection of landscapes and their ecosystem services.

Dr. Lilian Painter, WCS Bolivia Country Director, discussed how LLF will support the Madidi Landscape

The fund, of which WCS is a partner, brings together public and private donors for a common goal: better protection of nature in order to safeguard some of the most important areas on Earth. Two of the initial seven LLF pilot site candidates are where WCS works including The Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia and the The Madidi Protected Area, which comprises both a National Park and a Natural Area for Integrated Management in Bolivia. WCS is deeply grateful to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (for Madidi) and Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin (for Leuser) whose support has enabled WCS to participate as one of the first NGO partners in the LLF. 

Speakers

Keynote - Dr. Gerd Müller, German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development

Panel 1 - New approaches to close the global biodiversity funding gap

• H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn, former Prime Minister, Ethiopia
• Ms. Christiane Laibach, Executive Director, KfW
• Mr. Bertrand Walckenaer, Associate CEO, AFD
• Ms. Aileen Lee, Chief Program Officer, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Panel 2 - The LLF – a new dimension for conservation

• Dr. Lilian Painter, Country Director, WCS Bolivia
• Ms. Stefanie Lang, CEO, LLF
• Mr. Barry Gold, Environmental Program Director, Walton Family Foundation
• Dr. Christoph Schenck, CEO, FZS
• Mr. James Hardcastle, IUCN Global Protected Areas Programme