The Financing Potential of Biodiversity Offsets in Protected Areas

Since the Convention on Biological Diversity was agreed upon at the Rio Earth Summit more than 20 years ago, global Protected Area (PA) coverage has increased, but commensurable financial commitments to manage PAs have not. Submitted to the 2014 IUCN World Parks Congress in Sydney, this Fellows-authored paper argues that biodiversity offsets can act as an alternative financing mechanism where funding for PAs is inadequate. Join Cecilia Simon (2014 Fellow) and Paola Bauche (2014 Fellow) as they make the evidence-based case for this innovative approach.

Lead author on the paper is Dr. Mwangi Githiru (2014 Fellow) of Wildlife Works, joined by 2014 Fellows Dr. Matthew King, Paola Bauche, Cecilia Simon, Jane Boles, Cornelia Rindt and Kinship Faculty member Ray Victurine.

Featured Speaker

Cecilia Simon, Climate Consultant

Cecilia Simon is a climate change consultant focused on environmental issues. For the past few years she has focused mainly on REDD+ in Mexico. She has also contributed to the development of the Climate Action Reserve Protocol (currently being tested at a pilot project) and has worked closely with different stakeholders, from government entities at the national level to local communities. Cecilia has also been engaged in the development of local forest projects with indigenous communities whereby she has gained significant experience in the voluntary carbon market and project co-benefits. Prior to working as an independent consultant, she headed Pronatura Mexico’s Climate Change program and worked with local communities in the structuring and sale of the first voluntary carbon credits in the Mexican market. Cecilia received a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana and is currently studying a Master of Science on Biodiversity, Wildlife, and Ecosystem Health. 

Paola Bauche, Independent Consultant

Paola Bauche studied biology in Guadalajara and has a master’s degree in geography by McGill University in Canada. She has worked with non-governmental organizations in natural resources sustainable management, as well as creating local efforts on payments for ecosystem services. During five years she worked in the National Forestry Commission in Mexico, designing and managing the program “Local PES mechanisms through matching funds”, a nationwide program that seeks to incentivize the participation of users of ecosystem services, public or privates, and involve them in watershed and biological corridors maintenance in Mexico. Nowadays Paola is an independent consultant in topics like payments for ecosystem services and climate change in Mexico and other countries of Latin America, and she collaborates with researchers of Duke University in learning more about the aspects that make successful local PES mechanisms in Mexico.

When
Thursday, December 18, 2014 through Thursday, December 18, 2014
1 PM - 2 PM

Where
Webinar

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