This report focuses on investment mechanisms that activate one or more cash flows generated by the sustainable management of an ecosystem, which in part remain within the ecosystem to enable its conservation and in part are returned to investors. Such mechanisms can be based on direct conservation strategies (e.g., service payments, compensation payments or fees, permit trading, and offsets) or linked approaches such as certified natural commodity markets like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the emerging climate funds (e.g., the World Bank Climate Investment Funds and the UNFCCC Green Climate Fund) that seek to incentivize private investment through public finance.
