Cash for community conservation is tight, but this nonprofit unlocks it

Mongabay Newscast

Jean-Gaël "JG" Collomb says community-based conservation organizations know best how to tackle the complex conservation challenges unique to their ecosystems. However, they’re also among the most underserved in terms of funding of all stripes. On this week's episode of Mongabay's podcast, Collomb explains how his nonprofit, Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), is working to change that.

When it comes to funding conservation," it's really difficult to know who to give your money to besides a handful of organizations that a lot of people are familiar with," Collomb says.

WCN facilitates partnerships between community-based conservation groups, primarily in Global South nations with funders, in what has previously been described as “‘venture capital for conservation,” or as Collomb says, “people invest in people.”

They are “the first actors,” he says. “We're huge fans of being able to encourage people to give unrestricted [funding] … those organizations who are based on the ground in the field know best how to use that money.”

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Banner image: Beach on Mioskon Island in Raja Ampat. Photo by Rhett Bulter/Mongabay.

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Timecodes

(00:00) Why community-based conservation?

(09:54) How WCN works

(14:10) The importance of unrestricted funding

(16:48) Transparency & ethics in philanthropy

(19:59) 30x30 and Indigenous sovereignty

(27:08) Scientific advancements

(31:16) Either/or

(35:33) USAID funding cuts

(40:29) Connecting with WCN