Twenty-five years ago, John Reid had a vision to use economics as a tool that could transform conservation efforts around the world. He was ahead of his time, using economics to justify further investment in conservation efforts, to build strong economic development strategies that restore and protect economic growth and the planet. Today, the conservation world is catching up and efforts have been made to understand our global challenges as socio economic problems. Human behavior change is essential for conservation, and Conservation Strategy Fund (CSF) has been leading the sector in implementing change that incorporates this understanding, making their solutions more effective, sustainable and affordable.

CSF’s conservation economics expertise is a critical piece of the puzzle in humanity’s fight for a healthy planet. The CSF Team uses economics-driven strategies to better understand the resource-based challenges we face and develop solutions that balance sustainable economic growth with the conservation of our natural resources. The tools they develop, like their famous Mining Impacts Calculator, enable decision-makers in governments and businesses to address threats to human well-being, direct funding to conservation efforts, and protect the world as we know it from future harm.

They do all this with the support of an amazing collection of conservation partners. CSF has already worked with The Nature Conservancy to protect the threatened Resplendent Quetzal in the mountains of Panama, with Conservation International on a training for their staff in partnership with Stanford University, and with the World Wildlife Fund to expand protected areas in Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Nepal, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. Saving the planet is collaborative work, and every CSF win is a credit to the teamwork between the CSF team and their international network of partners.

Now in the sixth year of my time on the Board of Directors at Conservation Strategy Fund, I am proud to support the next chapter of CSF’s success. CSF is on track to expand its impact around the world in key locations for biodiversity protection and carbon sequestration. By bolstering global conservation efforts with their research, tools, and training, CSF encourages us all to consider nature as more than just a stakeholder in our decision-making; nature is our greatest resource.