Together with partners around the world, Forest Trends pioneers innovative finance for conservation, promoting healthy forests, sustainable agriculture, clean water, robust climate action, biodiverse landscapes, and strong communities.
Our programs and initiatives publish timely research, bring together diverse actors, and apply these approaches to make a difference on the ground, often blazing trails for bold and far-reaching policies in the process.
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News From Ecosystem Marketplace
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New Global Study Maps Policy for Nature Credit Markets, Revealing Diverse Approaches Across Six Continents
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CommentaryFrom Crisis to Compromise: What Article 6.4’s Permanence Standard Means for Carbon Markets
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How Complementary Forest Finance Mechanisms Can Promote Tropical Forest Protection
Forest Trends protects critical ecosystems through creative environmental finance, markets, supply chains, and other incentive mechanisms. We build diverse coalitions with governments, local and indigenous communities, and business to ensure that all stakeholders are engaged and benefit from conservation.
We’re excited to co-host this upcoming webinar with ADERASA and The Nature Conservancy—the first public milestone in a new collaboration focused on strengthening how water utilities and regulators across Latin America enable investment in nature for water security.![]()
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The webinar will present SUNASS’s methodology to estimate the "brecha de inversión" in ecosystems critical for drinking water services, answering a practical but often overlooked question: what does it actually cost to manage, conserve, and restore priority source waters to deliver reliable, safe water over time?![]()
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This work matters because water utilities are not just service providers—they are anchor institutions in their watersheds. They sit at the intersection of public accountability, operational performance, and long-term sustainability, and are uniquely positioned to ensure that investments in nature move beyond discretionary conservation budgets toward durable, tariff-based, and beneficiary-driven financing models.![]()
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Equally important, water regulators are often the linchpin for determining whether these investments are allowable, how they are structured, and whether innovation can scale. Partnering with ADERASA allows us to engage directly with this critical community of regulators as peers, learners, and leaders.![]()
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Looking forward to the discussion! Register here (please note the webinar will only be available in Spanish): bit.ly/45Z84ZxLa colaboración entre organismos reguladores y organizaciones internacionales es clave 🤝🏼🌱![]()
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Desde ADERASA, en alianza con The Nature Conservancy y Forest Trends, presentamos un webinar técnico enfocado en la metodología para estimar brechas de inversión en ecosistemas clave para el ciclo del agua 💧 ![]()
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👉🏼 Agradecemos la participación de los expertos de SUNASS, ARESEP y URSEA, quienes compartirán sus perspectivas y experiencias regionales.![]()
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¡Te esperamos! Regístrate aquí: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/cdeea5a1-ad53-4bc8-9ccb-7ccfe8b27137@fe3df58e-f867-4bf3-bc6c-674...![]()
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🗓 Jueves 29 de enero | 11:00 a.m. (PE/CO/EC) vía Teams.![]()
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#CooperaciónInternacional #Ecosistemas #Hídrico #RegulaciónEficiente #Latinoamérica
Benefit sharing is a fundamental principle to ensure that Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs & LCs) and other stakeholders in environmental projects receive a fair share of the benefits generated. For it to work effectively, benefit sharing requires participatory processes, a clear definition of rights holders and beneficiaries, well-defined benefits and eligibility criteria, as well as robust monitoring mechanisms. ![]()
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Despite its importance, benefit sharing faces challenges that can compromise its effectiveness and fairness, including power imbalances, lack of transparency, risks of corruption, exclusion of beneficiaries, weak financial sustainability, and lack of cultural appropriateness. To address these challenges, it is essential to invest in capacity building, ensure broad and representative participation of all stakeholders, and establish transparent, inclusive governance mechanisms adapted to local realities. ![]()
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In the final installment of our Understanding Climate Finance brochure series, we focus on benefit sharing—its principles, mechanisms, and practical applications in environmental projects, particularly in the context of REDD+. This installment provides guidance on how to ensure a fair and transparent distribution of benefits, guaranteeing that IPs & LCs receive adequate compensation for their contributions to conservation. ![]()
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👉 Explore the series in English (www.forest-trends.org/publications/understanding-climate-finance/), Spanish (www.forest-trends.org/publications/entendiendo-el-financiamiento-climatico/), or Portuguese (www.forest-trends.org/publications/entendendo-o-financiamento-climatico/)
Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) is the right of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs & LCs) to be informed, heard, and meaningfully involved in decision-making processes regarding measures that may affect their territories, natural resources, or ways of life. Its implementation involves a series of practical steps to ensure that IPs & LCs have an active voice in shaping projects and initiatives that directly affect them. ![]()
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Despite its fundamental importance, implementing FPIC faces several challenges, including the risk of disregarding communities’ own forms of organization and decision making, language barriers, the remoteness of some locations, power imbalances between communities and external institutions, internal community conflicts, and limited resources to sustain continuous, high-quality processes. ![]()
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In the sixth installment of Understanding Climate Finance, we present the fundamentals, principles, and challenges of FPIC, with a particular focus on how this right can be applied in practice in REDD+ projects, forest conservation, and other initiatives that impact IPs & LCs and their territories. ![]()
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👉 Explore the series in English (www.forest-trends.org/publications/understanding-climate-finance/), Spanish (www.forest-trends.org/publications/entendiendo-el-financiamiento-climatico/), or Portuguese (www.forest-trends.org/publications/entendendo-o-financiamento-climatico/)
Finding highlight ⓹ from our State of Climate and Conservation Finance for Indigenous Peoples & Local Communities Report: ![]()
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💡NON-MARKET APPROACHES OFFER AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH ![]()
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Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement promotes Non-market Approaches (NMAs), which prioritize community-led, culturally appropriate solutions over commodified carbon finance. Mechanisms such as “Beyond Value Chain Mitigation” encourage the private sector to support local conservation as part of their broader corporate climate and sustainability strategies, rather than solely through offsetting efforts. ![]()
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As part of their contribution to mitigating climate change, corporations increasingly seek projects that also incorporate additional benefits, including conserving biodiversity, improving human development, and achieving other United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Transactions in the VCM that incorporate such co-benefits tend to achieve higher prices than those focused solely on carbon sequestration. Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities have a comparative advantage in delivering such value-add projects. ![]()
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Dive deeper into our analysis at www.forest-trends.org/publications/state-of-climate-and-conservation-finance-for-indigenous-peopl...
Forest health, access, and safety are central to the quality of life, prosperity, and well-being of Coloradans. Nearly 70% of residents support active forest management by the USDA Forest Service, the state, fire departments, and local organizations to ensure forests are resilient when wildfire occurs. This work reduces the risk of catastrophic fires that threaten lives, homes, and the landscapes people love and depend on.![]()
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Connecting this work to the benefits Coloradans value and enjoy—clean water, healthy watersheds, recreation, and access to trails and slopes—is a critical communications priority. As wildfire risk continues to grow across the state, clearly linking proactive forest management to these everyday benefits helps build shared understanding and sustained public support for solutions.![]()
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Last week, we spent two days with our core team at the U.S. Forest Service's Boulder Ranger District Office, planning how Forest Trends can help strengthen this link between forest management and the benefits it delivers to communities. Read more about our work at the link below and stay tuned for exciting updates this spring.![]()
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www.forest-trends.org/wildfire-resilience/
Our recent analysis of available data on community participation in Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for water initiatives found that 74% reported participation from Indigenous Peoples or Local Communities (see the figure below). Communities most commonly participated in implementation, capacity building, or monitoring. It was less common for them to participate in project design, and even less so for them to lead activities or meaningfully participate in programmatic decision making. ![]()
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This gap matters. Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities have proven to be the most effective stewards of nature in the world, achieving greater conservation results and sustaining more biodiversity than government protected areas. When communities are involved from the start, projects tend to be more effective and more sustainable over time. ![]()
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Expanding community leadership and participation in the design and operation of NbS offers one of the biggest opportunities for the sector moving forward. ![]()
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Check out our other findings and recommendations at www.forest-trends.org/publications/doubling-down-on-nature/
𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮’𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿![]()
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Data can be a tool for justice. In Liberia, that truth is unmistakable.![]()
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Environmental activist Silas Siakor first exposed how revenues from illegal logging were fueling Liberia’s civil war—work that helped trigger UN sanctions and major reforms. Today, his partnership with Forest Trends continues that legacy.![]()
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Together, we have:![]()
① Documented more than $20 million owed to local communities in unpaid land rental fees![]()
② Supported reforms that strengthen transparency and accountability![]()
③ Helped move the Government of Liberia toward fair compensation and responsible governance![]()
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As Silas says, “The evidence is there. It is indisputable.” When information is placed in the hands of local communities, power shifts. Read the full story: www.forest-trends.org/publications/forest-trends-impact-report-2025/#silas
Join Kerstin Canby, Senior Director of our Forest Policy, Trade, & Finance Initiative, on February 10, 2026 from 14:15–15:15 CET for an exclusive OECD Forum side session exploring how data, technology, and intelligence can transform due diligence into real impact. ![]()
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🎤 Side session: “Supply Chain Intelligence: Driving Transparency and Due Diligence in Fashion” at the OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector![]()
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📍 Live on Livestorm![]()
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Supply Chain Intelligence helps brands make sense of complex supply chain data by structuring, analyzing, and translating it into usable insights for due diligence.![]()
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This high-level session brings together the wider fashion ecosystem, offering a unique opportunity to discuss due diligence through different and complementary perspectives.![]()
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What you will learn:![]()
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✔️ Turning fragmented data into actionable supply chain insights powered by technology![]()
✔️ Strengthening environmental & social risk assessment![]()
✔️ Preparing for emerging regulations, including the Deforestation-Free Regulation![]()
✔️ Converting intelligence into measurable impact![]()
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Kerstin will be joined on the panel by Laure Betsch, Co-Founder of Fairly Made®, and Rachel Molina, Head of Sustainability at Another Tomorrow. ![]()
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If you’re a brand, retailer, or sustainability leader navigating compliance, traceability, and impact at scale, this session is for you.![]()
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Register now at: eu1.hubs.ly/H0qGgkS0![]()
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#garment #footwear #duediligence #responsible #supplychains #bizhumanrights
Our recent report, Doubling Down on Nature, discovered that nearly half of the total investment volume in Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for water in 2023 was delivered through public incentives for landholders ($23.4B), which pay farmers, forest managers, and other landholders to improve land management practices for water benefits. These initiatives are typically large, publicly-funded programs operating at national or supranational (in the case of the EU) scales. ![]()
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Their impact is significant. In 2023, the average landholder incentive program invested $1.1B. Many of these initiatives have been running since the 1990s or early 200s, proving them to be reliable long-term funding sources for NbS at scale. ![]()
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As shown in the figure below, public incentives for landholders have been an influential driver of NbS for water security since the beginning of the decade. Although their growth has been slower compared to other mechanisms, they continue to be a stable force. While landholder incentive programs led investment volumes in 2013, by 2021 all other mechanisms combined surpassed them in total volume driven in part by growth in large investments by governments in nature as infrastructure in countries like the United States, the Netherlands, and Peru. ![]()
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See our full analysis at www.forest-trends.org/publications/doubling-down-on-nature/
As we look back on 2025, we invite you to enjoy a few image highlights from the year. Thank you for being part of the journey—see you in 2026.
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Jan 21, 2026
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