Ecoregion conservation is a process that, over a period of decades, will require the investment of a significant amount of funding (and time) by a range of stakeholders. It is therefore critical that conservationists working on ecoregional assessments take the time to identify and plan for funding patterns that evolve over time.

Much of the discussion around ecoregion conservation tends to focus on the availability of resources either to undertake the planning process or implement the actions needed to achieve its ambitious goals. Some ecoregion teams have calculated their resource needs, that is, the people and funds needed to achieve their ecoregion vision/assessment, at a level in the millions of dollars, while others have focused on the amount needed to support the planning process (for example, an average of $250,000 annually). Either way, the discussion of funding is based on the question of whether and how an ecoregion team can generate or leverage the resources needed to make ecoregion conservation a reality.

An ecoregion team should be able to calculate the investment required to move from the development of a biodiversity vision/assessment to the achievement of that vision/assessment. The key layers of investment that an ecoregion will need to raise or leverage to make a vision/assessment become reality are:

• Core Investments
• Third-Party investments

Core Investments
All discussions around ecoregion development and achievement start with the core investment. The core investment represents the level of core support that an ecoregion team requires to initiate and sustain conservation efforts. The offices or organizations responsible for an ecoregion require this investment in leadership, planning, early action, information sharing, capacity building, coalition building, fund-raising, and monitoring and evaluation. While the amount required will vary among ecoregions (depending on the size and profile of the ecoregion, level of previous engagement, and phase of ecoregion conservation development), an ecoregion requires guaranteed core support for leadership (including staff and consultants), stakeholder engagement (workshops and participation), communications (outreach materials and processes), and technical assistance for at least three years if it is to be effective. Activities supported by core funding will include the promotion and initiation of action, the pursuit of outstanding opportunities (to create new protected areas or new protocols for resource use and management), and the leveraging of external influence and investment in a comprehensive conservation strategy. The core support provides a platform upon which an ecoregion, and associated conservation program, activities and achievements are built.

The provision/assessment of core support to ecoregion teams will help build a framework and constituency for the achievement of ambitious conservation targets. With this foundation in place, the ecoregion can begin to implement a program of activities that, collectively, will contribute to the achievement of conservation goals.

Later in the process, the amount of activity supported under the project and programs line will increase to include a range of projects and programs, communications, policy, and advocacy initiatives. Within this line will be initiatives that are undertaken by coalitions, with a correspondingly expanding profile. (It is also important to note that this line of resourcing will rise and fall as projects and programs are initiated or concluded throughout the life of an ecoregion.) The projects and programs supported at this level of funding should have the explicit objective of achieving immediate conservation wins and stimulating or leveraging the decision-making processes and actions of others. They might be projects with the potential for magnification; policy or advocacy initiatives that will influence external processes; campaigning efforts that will build constituency support; or education efforts designed to generate support for specific conservation targets. While the funding for these initiatives can be generated on a project-by-project basis, it is critical that both the ecoregion team and donors recognize that each activity will only achieve maximum leverage if conceived and supported within the larger ecoregion framework (i.e., funds to support one protected area project may be wasted if efforts to address wider policy and communications processes are not also supported).

Third-party Investments
Third-party investment represents the level of support provided by organizations other than those directly engaged with the ecoregion (e.g., government, private sector, multilateral processes) towards the achievement of the ecoregion conservation targets. Leveraged in part by the model actions, advocacy, or socioeconomic incentives, third-party investment is supporting decision making, action, and behavioral change consistent with ecoregion conservation objectives and goals (through a policy initiative, national program, or commercial endeavor such as certification). This would include development, staffing, capacity building, and maintenance of nation(s) entire proposed protected area network. Ecoregional conservation teams can assume that the investment in conservation will become more efficient over time (based on learning or the identification of methods of conservation that are more cost efficient). Therefore, it is possible to imagine that, at some point, the graph of investment over time (along with the "projects and programs" line) will level off or decrease. Yet, conceptually the conservation impact graph will continue to rise as awareness raising, education, increased stakeholder participation, and policy initiatives provide ecoregion partners and external agencies with tangible options and approaches to conservation, natural resource management, and development across large landscapes.

Fund-raising will be a major focus of ecoregion efforts. Raising support for the core team and early vision/assessment process will require an initial burst of fund-raising activity. Once the vision/assessment and targets have been generated, the team will need to seek funds to support stakeholder engagement, conservation strategy development, and capacity building?not to mention projects that, if implemented immediately, may result in the mitigation of a threat or realization of an opportunity that can bring substantial rewards. There is no magical approach to ecoregion fund-raising. It will always take considerable time and energy, and it will always require the concerted effort of the ecoregion team and its partners.

The distinguishing feature of ecoregion fund-raising is that all efforts are undertaken with a view to the larger context. For example, while funds may be easily secured for a single large project (such as a protected area), the rationale for that project should be linked to the larger ecoregion context (namely the vision/assessment goals). By embedding single projects (e.g., the Great Barrier Reef water-quality analysis) within the larger ecoregion framework, an ecoregion can offer donors a return on their investment that is many times greater than the outcome of the single project (in the case of the Great Barrier Reef, the ecoregion realized a $21 million return for conservation on a $68,471 investment).

The key then is to begin with a long-term ecoregion funding strategy around the core, project, and leveraging needs. Eventually, part of the job of the ecoregion team is to assist with the development of a sustainable funding strategy for all protected areas in the ecoregion. In doing so, it is critical to ensure that opportunities to leverage funding for activities that will support the ecoregion process are pursued (even if they will not be delivered by the ecoregion team). For example:

• A number of multilateral and bilateral donors are currently supporting or looking to support natural resource management efforts in the Western Pacific. While the agenda of the ecoregions in the region will make up only a small portion of the funding themes of the donors, their ability to influence the shape and focus of the wider investment portfolio (by a factor of five times greater than what the ecoregion team can hope to secure) cannot be overlooked by the ecoregion. Activities to influence the full donor investment portfolio should be factored into the core support and project and program strategies and budgets of the ecoregions.
• In China more than 50 million (US$58 million) will be invested by one donor in biodiversity and river-basin support projects. The Yangtze Basin ecoregion may be able to secure one-tenth of that amount for its own activities, but the opportunity to influence the full program of funding must be a strategic objective supported by core funding. The ecoregion can make the case for such core support based on the projected impact that influencing the full package of donor funding can have on the achievement of clearly articulated objectives and targets.

Ecoregional conservation teams must recognize that big-dollar support for a single project, or even several large projects, will never be enough to secure the full breadth and ambition of ecoregion conservation. For an ecoregion to be successful, projects that receive funding need to be proposed and implemented within an ecoregion conservation framework that links the outcomes of the project to higher-level objectives. Without that connection, the funds secured for large projects in an ecoregion may amount to no more than a large project budget that will make significant managing and reporting demands on the ecoregion team. In seeking funds to support ecoregion conservation efforts, an ecoregion should:

• Conceive of proposals within the wider ecoregion context (reflecting the ecoregion funding model)
• Promote the potential for partnership and magnification (across themes and sectors)
• Identify and optimize points of leverage
• Make connections between the biological, political, economic, and cultural aspects of ecoregion conservation
• Match funding requests to the capacity to deliver (in technical and management terms)
• Set out clear measures of success.

Ideally, an ecoregion should not:

• Pursue funding just because it is available (it may not support or contribute to ecoregion interests and needs)
• Pursue funding at a level that exceeds large program management capacity and experience (unless you have a capacity-building or large program management initiative in place)
• Significantly compromise conservation objectives and targets (to secure funds)
• Build up a portfolio of well-funded projects in the ecoregion that do not contribute to targets (but that keep everyone fully occupied in their delivery).

Websites

Conservation Return-on-Investments /workspaces/cbdgateway/gsi/croi