Conservation Strategy Fund

Conservation Strategy Fund logo.

Conservation Strategy Fund (CSF) is a global conservation organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with country offices in Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Indonesia, and Kenya. CSF combines economic analysis, training, and communicating results and recommendations with key stakeholders so those working in conservation and development can use economics to make better decisions for people and nature.

About[]

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Conservation Strategy Fund was founded in 1998 on the conviction that economics can play a critical role in transforming conservation efforts around the world. By revealing the true tradeoffs of development, demonstrating the inherent value of nature, and generating financially viable environmental solutions, CSF used economic tools and insights to identify and inform others of the best possible development outcomes. Since then, CSF has been working with governments, conservationists, funders, farmers, fishermen, and others to raise economic literacy worldwide and create a better understanding of how economics can improve decision-making.

CSF identifies and catalyzes solutions to environmental challenges through a three-tiered approach combining economic analysis, training, and communicating results and recommendations to key stakeholders. This three-tiered approach is the cornerstone of CSF’s “Theory of Change.” CSF’s Theory of Change starts by identifying, training, or partnering with leaders and change-makers to influence conservation initiatives in communities at the local level and more broadly nationally. By collaborating with professionals already working at the forefront of conservation and sustainability issues and equipping them with the right economic research, training, or technical assistance, CSF helps increase economic literacy and create a global network for conservation.

For more than 20 years, CSF has been a leading organization advancing conservation solutions to environmental challenges by building strategies that can be applied all over the world. Today, CSF has dedicated country teams in Bolivia, Brazil, Indonesia, Peru, and the United States, and CSF’s training programs have reached more than 3,200 people from 90 countries with 75 fellows across Latin America, Indonesia, and the Pacific. In addition, CSF’s analysis and training programs have influenced more than $21 billion in development investments, resulting in conservation of more than 50 million acres worldwide.

Training[]

Since 1999, CSF’s unique and effective capacity-building program has empowered environmental professionals from all over the world with the economic tools, techniques, and concepts they need to be successful in their work. CSF courses are taught by experts that understand real-world conservation challenges and how economics can advance environmental solutions to some of today’s most pressing issues. Through tailored workshops, intensive fellowships, in-person and virtual courses, webinars, and an annual, international flagship course, CSF’s capacity-building program has helped create a lasting network of conservation professionals using economics to influence human behavior and policy.

Achievements[]

CSF is a leading organization advancing conservation solutions powered by economics. Some notable achievements include helping to establish 1.5 million acres of protected area in central Brazil, helping local people divert the construction of a road through Volcán Barú National Park in Panama, successfully preventing construction of a dam that would have flooded significant portions of Madidi National Park in Bolivia, and delaying the paving of highway BR-319 in the Brazilian Amazon which, without proper safeguards, could have inflicted harm on the world's largest rainforest.^[1]

In 2012, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named Conservation Strategy Fund as a recipient of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. The award recognized CSF’s innovative work using economics to conserve the world’s most important ecosystems. Conservation Strategy Fund is one of only 15 organizations from six countries to be recognized today with the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. The MacArthur Foundation does not seek or accept nominations for these awards. To qualify, organizations must demonstrate exceptional creativity and effectiveness; have reached a critical or strategic point in their development; show strong leadership and stable financial management; have previously received MacArthur support; and engage in work central to one of MacArthur’s core programs.

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