Articles

Curan Bonham, monitoring officer of Verde Ventures, describes how the fund has embedded impact measurement within the management structure.

CI and its partners have been involved in impact investing since 1998 through the Verde Ventures Fund.

Verde Ventures (VV), working in close collaboration with Ten Senses Africa (TSA), has successfully supported the Fair Trade certification of the Kirinyaga East Macadamia Farmers Association (KEMFA) in Kenya, East Africa.

Imagine being awakened in the middle of the night to be summoned to witness a critically endangered Leatherback turtle laying eggs on the beach minutes from your bed. For David Leventhal, co-owner of Playa Viva Sustainable Boutique Hotel located 35 kilometers south of Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa International Airport on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, such an opportunity materialized out of the moonlit night.

The 77-hectare private park’s attractions include the largest indoor nocturnal frog exhibit in the world, a butterfly garden, a reptile vivarium, a hummingbird garden, a tram ride through the rainforest canopy, and walking trails through the primary rainforest.

On the southern slopes of the Atitlán volcano in southwestern Guatemala, in the midst of cloud forest, the Los Andes estate has been the site of coffee farming for more than 100 years.

Verde Ventures’ Adriana Madrigal is the fund’s senior investment officer. She helps guide applicants through the loan process, and track loan recipients’ progress on repayment and conservation-related targets. Julie Shaw talks with her about Verde Ventures.

In the biologically diverse but overtaxed lands of the Taita Hills in southeast Kenya, a clothing company is offering relief to the people, flora and fauna.

Costa Rica has long been at the forefront of ecotourism but the July 5 opening of the Veragua Rainforest Research and Adventure Park attracted national coverage for its location in the less developed province of Limón on the Caribbean side of the country.

The additional funding builds upon the partnership between Starbucks and Conservation International to help farmers improve their livelihoods.

From Cameroon to the Andaman coast: 2008 SEED Award finalists are announced and SEED’s Associate Partners Network is launched

In the first corporate effort of its kind, Conservation International and Starbucks Coffee Company are taking conservation beyond the coffee farm to protect rich surrounding landscapes and promote forest protection as a solution to climate change.

Along the slopes of the rugged Sierra Madre Mountains in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico, the coffee harvest is under way – and helping protect the environment.

When Verde Ventures invested in Rainforest Expeditions in 2003, it did so based on the company’s high degree of success in creating ecotourism lodges in Peru’s Amazon region.

When you're biting into a smooth piece of dark chocolate it's hard to think about anything else.