North America Landscape Finance Forum

Advancing innovative models of landscape investment and finance to unlock the potential for integrated landscape initiatives in the U.S. and Canada.

Across the U.S. and Canada, and around the world, there is growing pressure and conflict over natural resources used for farming, forests and grasslands. Now, more than ever, land management must do more with less: sustainable and profitable production, prosperous rural economies and livelihoods, healthy ecosystems and biodiversity, and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Meanwhile–in the face of low commodity prices, high input costs, tariffs, powerful buyers and regulation–farmers and foresters are struggling to survive.These pressures make it difficult to achieve thriving rural economies or secure critically important environmental goals.

Fortunately a movement is growing of locally-led partnerships that empower land managers and other members of local communities and municipalities to plan their own futures. By working collaboratively at the landscape scale they are finding creative ways to overcome barriers and manage their shared spaces to regenerate their resources, economies, and communities.

But these new partnerships face daunting challenges to finance their integrated investment strategies.

Financial innovation is critical to unlocking rural transformation

These new strategies require new kinds of landscape investment models that link multiple landscape objectives with an array of public, private and civic investments to achieve synergies and impacts at scale. EcoAgriculture Partners, with collaborators in the Landscape and Seascape Working Group of the Coalition on Private Investment in Conservation (CPIC),  have identified and  described numerous such models. These take different forms, such as landscape-based community development funds, landscape development companies, landscape banks, or regional business accelerator platforms.

Many of the most innovative models are in North America. Most focus on agriculture and natural resources, but some are adapted from other sector, such as urban development. To deepen understanding of how these work in practice, we are organizing a one-day Forum to bring together the innovators who are pioneering these models with other leaders in the finance and land management communities. The forum will assess learnings, initiate a community of practice on this topic, and generate an action agenda to scale up integrated landscape investment in the U.S. and Canada.

Join us to improve and scale models of integrated landscape finance

• Examine Models: We will interrogate innovative models of multi-project coordinated landscape investment in the U.S. and Canada. Through discussion at the Forum we will advance understanding, stimulate further innovation, and spark new alliances to advance this field of practice.
• Share Knowledge: The Forum will catalyze exchange among investment model innovators, providers of investment support services at the landscape level, and implementers of integrated landscape management to clarify the principles and strategies underlying these models and how they can be more broadly applied.
• Plan Action: We will identify priorities for advancing integrated landscape finance in North America and develop joint strategies for moving this field forward. A synthesis of lessons learned will be produced to accompany a statement of intent by the community of how to carry the work forward.