The renewed partnership builds upon years of joint successes on major initiatives, including the Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme, which has supported 38 projects across seven countries since 2014, the SADC Transfrontier Conservation Area Financing Facility, the Selva Maya project, a trinational effort to protect the largest tropical forest in Mesoamerica, the WALD Innovation Facility – financing new approaches on natural carbon sinks as well as the Forest Landscape Restoration Facility, launched at the IUCN World Conservation Congress to support projects across Central America and Ecuador.
A Shared Vision for People and Planet
The agreement aligns the work of the world’s largest environmental network and one of the leading global investors in nature conservation, creating a shared strategy to achieve key international targets, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The collaboration will intensify efforts to strengthen the global network of protected and conserved areas on land and in the ocean, ensuring they are effectively and equitably managed to deliver real outcomes for biodiversity. This focus on area-based conservation will be coupled with ambitious initiatives to restore degraded ecosystems and promote sustainable agriculture, tackling the drivers of biodiversity loss while supporting community livelihoods. Underpinning these efforts is a joint commitment to scale up high-integrity Nature-based Solutions, mobilise new streams of sustainable finance from the private sector, and ensure a human rights-based approach is embedded across all joint projects.
Stewart Maginnis, IUCN Deputy Director General – Programme, who signed the agreement on behalf of IUCN, said: "This new agreement elevates a long-standing and highly successful partnership to the next level. By combining KfW’s financial expertise and leadership in development finance with IUCN’s scientific knowledge and vast global network, we can ensure that significant financial flows achieve maximum impact for nature and people. We are particularly excited to deepen our collaboration on scaling up Nature-based Solutions and ensuring the effective, equitable management of protected and conserved areas, which is critical for meeting global biodiversity goals."