Private Capital to Improve Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Protection: Time for a Boost

Abstract

Coastal protection, an important coral reef ecosystem service, is threatened by increasing coral mortality, exacerbated by global climate change. Nature-based solutions in the form of coral restoration, while not perfect, can assist in rebuilding reef structure and improving the flow of the service for some sites. With a financing gap existing between what is required for conservation and what is being accessed, private investors should be playing a larger role in such restoration activities. Especially so as coastal hoteliers in particular, benefit from stable beaches and also have additional income generating potential with healthy reefs. Blended finance solutions in particular, are especially suited to restoration that incorporates substrate addition, while payments for ecosystem services are more suited to coral gardening. Conservation and finance practitioners must engage further and understand each other’s worlds, in order for these private sources to be effectively sourced and utilized.

Paying for nature‐based solutions: A review of funding and financing mechanisms for ecosystem services and their impacts on social equity

“…Blended finance combines public and philanthropic capital with private capital, thus reducing the overall financial risk to private financiers (Jiang & Yong Jiang, 2022). Blended finance approaches have been proposed as a means of financing sustainable land use (Rode et al, 2019) and coastal protection (Brathwaite et al, 2022). In some cases, microfinancing, which is a common source of financing in developing nations (Seddon et al, 2020), has been adapted to incentivize green outcomes (Tanin et al, 2019).…”