The investments of the Global Conservation Fund (GCF) protect critically important natural areas, benefiting communities around the globe that rely on nature for clean air, fresh water and food.
Healthy forests, coral reefs and freshwater ecosystems are the lifeline for billions of people. Through targeted funding and technical support, the Global Conservation Fund (GCF) empowers local communities, NGOs and governments to protect their natural assets. Since 2001, the GCF has supported the protection of 81 million hectares (200 million acres) around the world, invested US$ 107 million and generated more than $1 million in wages for local economies.
Made possible by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the GCF has catalyzed more than US$ 200 million for conservation and has developed significant partnerships with corporations and other donors. After 15 years as a leader in conservation finance, the GCF is now poised to triple our global impact and to develop innovative solutions for the conservation and development challenges of the 21st century.
Our Plan
Many protected areas, once created, lack the funding and management structure to be effective. The GCF helps design and support innovative sustainable financing mechanisms for delivering a steady flow of funds to protected areas. The GCF:
- Makes investment decisions based on sound science to benefit the highest priority places for conservation through the creation or expansion of protected areas.
- Mobilizes additional financial resources to multiply and sustain results.
- Supports a wide range of approaches to establishing and expanding protected areas, from national parks decreed by governments to privately owned lands to community-managed reserves that combine conservation with responsible natural resource use and development.
Our focus on ensuring sufficient resources and effective management for the long term is both unique and vital.
By the numbers
Many protected areas, once created, lack the funding and management structure to be effective. The GCF helps design and support innovative sustainable financing mechanisms for delivering a steady flow of funds to protected areas. The GCF:
- Makes investment decisions based on sound science to benefit the highest priority places for conservation through the creation or expansion of protected areas.
- Mobilizes additional financial resources to multiply and sustain results.
- Supports a wide range of approaches to establishing and expanding protected areas, from national parks decreed by governments to privately owned lands to community-managed reserves that combine conservation with responsible natural resource use and development.
Our focus on ensuring sufficient resources and effective management for the long term is both unique and vital.
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CI’s solutions
Brazil’s Kayapó: Stewards of the Forest
Conservation International supports the Kayapó indigenous people in their efforts to protect their culture and habitats and secure economic independence. A glance at the Kayapó territories on Google Maps shows how they stick out like a green barrier against the deforestation that surrounds them.
READ MORE: Kayapó: Stewards of the Forest
Phoenix Islands Protected Area
Innovative partnerships are protecting one of Earth’s last remaining marine wilderness areas. As one of the world’s most remote island chains, the Phoenix Islands — located within the Republic of Kiribati in the heart of the Pacific Ocean — comprise an island archipelago and ocean wilderness area of immense global value.
READ MORE: Phoenix Islands Protected Area
