Seed Capital Assistance Facility: Unlocking private finance for forest and landscape restoration (SCAF-FLR)

The project unlocks private investment into forest landscape restoration in developing countries by setting up the Restoration Seed Capital Facility which will co-fund pre-investment costs with fund managers or investment advisors. This model combining reimbursable and non-reimbursable grants ensures efficient use of public capital while also leveraging private capital. Outcomes support the achievement of the Bonn Challenge and contribute to objectives of climate change adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods. Direct beneficiaries include fund managers, investors and project operators. Indirect beneficiaries include local communities as well as national and local governments that benefit from supported projects in meeting their goals and commitments. The project leverages the insights gained to stimulate additional investment in restoration through outreach to financial institutions, NGOs, governments and other stakeholders.

Project data

IKI funding: 20,000,000.00 €
Included preparation phase: 202,648.00 €
Duration: 12/2019 till 04/2027
Status: open
Implementing organisation: United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment)
Implementing Partner: Frankfurt School of Finance & Management gGmbH
Online: https://www.restorationfacility.org/

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State of implementation/results

The Restoration Seed Capital Facility (RSCF) was publicly launched on October 27th 2020 through a public webinar aimed at fund managers, investors and other stakeholders in the field of private investment in forest landscape restoration (FLR).
To date, the Facility has onboarded six approved fund managers as partners receiving support. Five of the partners are receiving Pipeline (SL1) and Project development (SL2) support. These are Arbaro Advisors for the Arbaro Fund, Ecotierra for the Urapi Sustainable Land Use Fund, New Forests for the Tropical Asia Forest Fund 2, Shared Wood Company for the Impact Earth for the Amazon Biodiversity Fund. One partner, Campo Capital, is receiving Fund Development support to develop the Campo Capital Impact Fund.
Four projects that have benefited from RSCF support in their development have successfully reached financial close. Three projects, in Ecuador, Guatemala, and Peru, have been invested in by the Arbaro Fund for a combined amount of over USD 55 million. One project in Honduras has been invested in by the Ecotierra fund for over USD 9 million.
The Facility is currently supporting the development of four projects, in Democratic Republic of Congo, Peru, and Thailand under its Project Development support line (SL2).
In 2023, the project published numerous blog entries and stories from supported projects (restorationfacility.org/…).
A regional knowledge exchange event was held in Sao Paulo in November 2023. Entitled ‘Unlocking Private Finance for Forests and Sustainable Land Use: sharing lessons and opportunities to scale up investment in the LATAM region’, this was co-organised with Mobilising Finance for Forests, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and IDH (Sustainable Trade Initiative).
O June 8th 2023, the project held a webinar featuring facility partners Arbaro Advisors and Ecotierra outlining their investment strategy, environmental and social impacts, and describing how RSCF support helped them to accelerate their investments.
At the 15th UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) in Montreal in 2022, the project was presented as an investment vehicle for nature-based solutions.
The first annual report (2022) of the Facility was published, describing the impact to date, presenting existing partners and projects and compiling various lessons learned on effective investments in forest protection and restoration.

Latest Update:
04/2024