May 7, 2026
ARLINGTON, Va. (May 7, 2026) - The Global Environment Facility recently approved $1.7M USD for Conservation International to lead and co-design an initiative dedicated to reforming subsidies harmful to biodiversity. The effort aims to work alongside countries to scale positive incentives for nature in support of global biodiversity funding goals.
“Each year, governments spend trillions of dollars on subsidies, aiming to support food security, livelihoods and economic growth. These subsidies often unintentionally incentivize practices that exhaust soils, expand the agricultural frontier or increase chemical runoff while imposing steep hidden costs,” said Lina Barrera, Senior Vice President of Conservation International’s Center for Policy and Incentives. “Degraded forests and mangroves, declining soil health and reduced climate resilience are often the unintended impact of subsidies. Innovative, practical models alongside dedicated support could help shift subsidies toward approaches that instead restore ecosystems, strengthen rural economies and support long‑term fiscal stability.”
The new Initiative, Accelerating Rapid Transition of Subsidies and Incentives (ARTSI), is a two-year effort to co-design a public-private financing mechanism to help countries make subsidy reform feasible, practical and politically viable. ARTSI aims to help governments meet biodiversity and climate commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
“The goal of this collaboration is to make public spending more efficient while strengthening the resilience and long-term economic benefit to local communities,” said Barrera. “When public spending reinforces environmental objectives, there are triple wins for the economy, people and nature,”
ARTSI has three interconnected components:
- Pilot projects that test and demonstrate practical models of reform;
- The co-design of a dedicated financing mechanism to provide the financial and technical support needed to advance reform; and
- Global awareness raising and knowledge exchange to build political will, cultivate a community of practice and shift the narrative on what’s achievable.
The first phase of the effort will be the implementation of pilots in three GEF-supported countries – Colombia, Fiji and the Philippines – alongside a parallel pilot in Brazil:
- Colombia: In partnership with Finagro (Colombia’s public financial institution for the agricultural sector) and several cacao growers' associations in the Amazonian Piedmont, this pilot will align agricultural credit conditions with sustainability and environmental criteria. It aims to reduce deforestation while maintaining cacao farmers’ access to affordable finance.
- Fiji: In partnership with Fiji’s Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways, this pilot will work to incorporate organic fertilizer alternatives into the existing national fertilizer subsidy for non-sugar crops. It aims to reduce agricultural runoff that has adversely affected coral reefs, improve soil health and support local farmers by providing technical assistance on biofertilizers on the island of Moala.
- The Philippines: This pilot aims to prevent deforestation of mangroves by embedding blue carbon ecosystem-friendly practices into salt production subsidies under the Philippines’ new Salt Industry Development Act with on the ground engagement in Palawan and Oriental Mindoro.
- Brazil: In collaboration with the Brazilian Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, this pilot aims to reduce deforestation by strengthening Brazil’s national agricultural credit program environmental and social sustainability criteria.
The learnings from the pilots will be incorporated into the development of the funding mechanism and will build on Conservation International’s existing partnerships and coalitions.
“Identifying transition pathways to shift incentives toward nature-positive outcomes has the potential to greatly impact the biodiversity funding gap in a positive way. By transitioning existing spending toward strategies that can support both the planet and communities, we hope to show that subsidy reform is feasible, practical and ethical,” said Fred Boltz, Head of Programming at the Global Environment Facility.
ARTSI’s pilot programs and resulting grant effort are the first effort of their kind to help countries and civil society systematically pilot, scale and sustain nature-positive subsidy reform. With an initial investment goal for the funding mechanism of USD $25 million over the first five years of operation, ARTSI will support efforts focused on reforming unintentionally harmful subsidies. This project is funded by the Global Environment Facility, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Andre Hoffman, UBS Optimus Foundation and an anonymous foundation.
Learn more about Conservation International’s subsidy reform work here.
###
About Conservation International: Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, for biodiversity and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples and local communities to help people and nature thrive together. Go to Conservation.org for more, and follow our work on Conservation News, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
ABOUT THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a family of funds dedicated to confronting biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and strains on land and ocean health. Its grants, blended financing, and policy support helps developing countries address their biggest environmental priorities and adhere to international environmental conventions. Over the past three decades, the GEF has provided more than $22 billion and mobilized $120 billion in co-financing for more than 5,000 national and regional projects.