Agricultural Finance as a Force for Conservation: Innovations for and from the Global South

How can we innovate inclusive financial instruments to reward farmers and businesses for protecting and restoring nature? The reality on the ground is still far from where we want to be. In a recent UN Food Systems Summit dialogue, a farmer representative said: “Is support to ecosystems good business for farmers? No, unless the fundamentals change”. A green business leader said: “There is a lot of hype about private and blended finance, but pro-nature is still bad business from a financial returns perspective”. How can green financial instruments be designed to support the livelihoods of the poorest people in rural communities? This session, led by the WLE-supported Commission on Sustainable Agriculture Intensification (CoSAI), will present emerging results of a new study on the impacts of financial support to nature-positive and socially-inclusive agriculture in the Global South, and hold a panel discussion on how innovation in finance and public policy can leverage change.