The Landscape Investment and Finance Tool comprises of a set of modules that can help landscape initiatives define, develop and finance landscape priorities.

Integrated landscape management is essential for helping local communities and the global economy address the causes and adapt to the impacts of climate change. It requires diverse actions; from running the platform, developing a payment for ecosystem services scheme, and commissioning research; to investments in sustainable agriculture, coastal restoration, and protected area management. These investments can draw on financing from public, private and civic sources. In many cases, the specific investments do not fit neatly into the traditional categories of debt, equity or grant investments – finance can remain siloed while integrated landscape management requires cross-sector investment design.

To meet this challenge, IUCN and EcoAgriculture Partners are collaborating to develop a Landscape Investment and Finance Tool (LIFT) Kit. This toolkit helps landscape leaders, who are usually not financial experts, to analyze more systematically their financing needs, the sources of finance available to them, and to define strategies to secure funding.

A team of software developers, product designers, and financial experts are ready to develop this first version of LIFT from the set of guidance documents, worksheets, and online forms, into a fast, responsive, dynamic, intuitive and easy-to-use suite of software tools connected to a powerful database of investors, business models, and more.

If you are interested in using LIFT to help your landscape initiative find finance, the team behind LIFT are interested in learning with and from you about what works well and what doesn’t.

LIFT is looking for partners to conduct design and user experience research in 2018. To find out more and to get involved in LIFT, please visit liftkit.info.

Photo: UN Photo/John Isaac