NOTE: This initiative has ended, and as of May 2023, this webpage is no longer being updated regularly.
The investments of the Global Conservation Fund (GCF) protect critically important natural areas, benefiting communities around the globe that rely on nature for clean air, fresh water and food.
Healthy forests, coral reefs and freshwater ecosystems are the lifeline for billions of people. Through targeted funding and technical support, the Global Conservation Fund (GCF) works with local communities, NGOs and governments to protect their natural assets. Since 2001, the GCF has supported the protection of 81 million hectares (200 million acres) around the world, invested US$ 107 million and generated more than $1 million in wages for local economies.
Made possible by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the GCF has catalyzed more than US$ 200 million for conservation and has developed significant partnerships with corporations and other donors. After 15 years as a leader in conservation finance, the GCF is now poised to triple our global impact and to develop innovative solutions for the conservation and development challenges of the 21st century.
Our plan
Many protected areas, once created, lack the funding and management structure to be effective. The GCF helps design and support innovative sustainable financing mechanisms for delivering a steady flow of funds to protected areas. The GCF:
- Makes investment decisions based on sound science to benefit the highest priority places for conservation through the creation or expansion of protected areas.
- Mobilizes additional financial resources to multiply and sustain results.
- Supports a wide range of approaches to establishing and expanding protected areas, from national parks decreed by governments to privately owned lands to community-managed reserves that combine conservation with responsible natural resource use and development.
Our focus on ensuring sufficient resources and effective management for the long term is both unique and vital.
81 million hectares protected
GCF has helped to create or expand 135 protected areas, spanning 81 million hectares of vital terrestrial and marine ecosystems in 26 countries — an area twice the size of Germany. The fund has also generated benefits for over 60,000 people, including nearly 3,000 jobs, while helping to conserve habitat for more than 500 globally threatened species.
To achieve this, GCF has played a key role in establishing 26 endowments for protected areas that collectively total $230 million — including $189 million from partners. These endowments alone support more than 58 million hectares (124 million acres) of critical ecosystems and the people who depend on them.
Our Solutions
Brazil’s Kayapó: Stewards of the Forest
Conservation International supports the Kayapó indigenous people in their efforts to protect their culture and habitats and secure economic independence. A glance at the Kayapó territories on Google Maps shows how they stick out like a green barrier against the deforestation that surrounds them.
READ MORE: Kayapó: Stewards of the Forest
Partners
Global Conservation Fund (GCF) grants support CI regional programs and partners with diverse strategies and knowledge to help create, expand and ensure effective long-term management of protected areas. GCF has supported more than 40 partners:
- Amazon Conservation Association
- American Bird Conservancy
- Asociación Guyra Paraguay
- Association Fanamby
- BirdLife International
- Board of Regents at the University of California (Santa Barbara)
- Bonobo Conservation Initiative
- Caucasus Protected Areas Fund
- Centro de Conservación, Investigación y Manejo de Areas Naturales
- Centro de Derecho Ambiental y de los Recursos Naturales
- Conservation Strategy Fund
- Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International
- Fauna & Flora International
- Federación de Centros Awá del Ecuador
- Fondation pour les Aires Protegees et la Biodiversite de Madagascar
- Fondo Acción
- Fondo Mexicano para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza, A.C.
- Fondo Nacional para Areas Naturales por el Estado
- Fondo para La Accion Ambiental y la Ninez
- Friends of Nature
- Fundacion Jose Manuel Pando
- Fundación para la Investigación y Conservación ProAves
- Fundacion para la Sobrevivencia del Pueblo Cofán
- Fundación ProAves Colombia
- Fundo Brasileiro para a Biodiversidade
- Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, A.C.
- HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation)
- Island Conservation
- Komunitas Konservasi Indonesia WARSI
- National Parks Trust of South Africa
- National Trust of Fiji
- The Nature Conservancy
- New England Aquarium
- ProAves UK
- Rainforest2Reef (formerly Friends of Calakmul)
- Rhode Island Zoological Society
- The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
- Smithsonian Institution
- South African National Biodiversity Institute
- Tanzania Forest Conservation Group
- United Nations Foundation
- United States Agency for International Development
- Wildlife Conservation Society
- Woodland Park Zoo
- World Wildlife Fund, Inc.
- Yayasan KEHI
- The Zoological Society of San Diego
Subgrantee Partners
Among our partners are the following organizations that received GCF funding directly from our grant recipients:
- Conservation et utilisation rationnelle des Ecosystèmes Forestiers d'Afrique Centrale
- Ecosystemes Forestiers d’Afrique Centrale
- Fundación Mexicana para la Educación Ambiental
- Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development
Contact us
Chris Stone
Managing Director
Michael McGreevey
Director, Conservation Investments
Cassandra Kane
Communications Manager
Romas Garbaliauskas
Senior Legal Advisor
Andrew Schatz
Legal Advisor
Featured videos
GCF: Investing in the Long-Term Protection of Nature
GCF Kayapo Fund
