Conservation Trust Funds 2020: Global Vision, Local Action describes the evolution of Conservation Trust Funds (CTFs) over the previous decade (2010 to 2020) and provides insights into the expanding roles they could play in the coming years. This report was organized by the Conservation Finance Alliance’s (CFA) Environmental Funds Working Group (EFWG), in collaboration with the three networks of Conservation Trust Funds: the Network of Latin American and Caribbean Environmental Funds (RedLAC); the Consortium of African Funds for the Environment (CAFÉ); and the Asia-Pacific Conservation Trust Fund Network (APNET) and through funding by a generous group of donors. Results presented in this report are based on over 65 interviews with CTF representatives, donors, and stakeholders; the 2020 Global CTF Survey completed by 50 CTFs (Annex 1), and regular feedback from a CTF Study Task Force to the lead authors from Aligning Visions (Paquita Bath), Wolfs Company (Amílcar Guzmán-Valladares and Viviana Luján-Gallegos) and the CFA (Katy Mathias).

Approximately 40 new CTFs have been established since 2010, joining the 68 active CTFs that were formed prior to 2009 (Annex 2). These 108 CTFs operate around the world as mission-driven conservation finance institutions that manage a diverse suite of financing mechanisms for nature conservation. Twenty-five CTFs formed prior to 2010 are now celebrating 20-30 years of operation. These CTFs offer a compelling history of successfully channeling global and national funding to finance local initiatives – achievements that are inspiring ever more start up CTFs. New platforms for regional coordination and financing, the sharing of administrative services, and pooling models for asset management are being implemented. These mechanisms support the formation of smaller CTFs, primarily from island nations and subnational units in large countries, in the hope they will increase the flow of resources and local ownership for conservation and sustainable development programs.