What is Sustainable Financing (SF)?

Sustainable financing is focused on ensuring resources are available beyond the project lifetime. It must be applied to programs that ensure that benefits are maintained for the future generation and conform to acknowledged best practices.

It is an important consideration for the CTI because, in most cases, there are not enough investments or country budgets to fund the implementation of the NPOAs and the Regional Plan of Action (RPOA). It is as important to think of long-term financing to fund the recurrent costs of activities needed to continue to keep the target biodiversity, coral reefs, and fish resources that will guarantee food security for the next generation. This could not be accomplished by the traditional project finance mode.

There are two specific conditions to assure the long-term flow of money for an agreed purpose. These are trust and trustworthy institutions or mechanisms.Trust is critical and it must exist between and among all partners involved. In the same vein, you need to have reliable and trustworthy institutions/organizations that have a proven record in handling money for the intended purpose and producing the desired results. Confidence in an institution can be lost if they mismanage the flow of money, thereby stopping the flow of funds and negatively affecting sustainability. Money flows when trust and trustworthy institutions/ organizations provide for sustained, tangible, and outstanding results.

Sustainability in conservation work implies constant fund raising and and/or ensuring the constant flow of revolving funds that would ensure continuous support needed for the intended sustainable system. Fund raising may be viewed in a more positive light in the sense that prospective donors are offered sound investment opportunities for conservation products and services. The first step to a successful fund-raising campaign is having a good and most importantly sound product to start with. Along this line, specific programs and projects that are needed to implement the CTI National Plans of Action (NPOAs) should be viewed by donors as bankable projects.