The International Crane Foundation (ICF) and the Conservation Strategy Fund (CSF) have launched a landmark collaboration to design and advance conservation finance strategies across ICF’s global programs. For this initiative beginning in August 2025, CSF will provide strategic economic and financial advisory services to strengthen the long-term sustainability of crane and wetland conservation initiatives in key countries across Africa, Asia, and North America—including China, Kenya, Mongolia, Nepal, Rwanda, South Korea, Uganda, the United States, Vietnam, and Zambia.
The partnership will unfold in three phases:
- Global Scoping and Analysis – mapping active and emerging conservation finance mechanisms, reviewing enabling policy environments, and assessing ICF’s financial readiness in the ten priority countries.
- Project-Level Strategy Development – identifying and designing tailored finance solutions for priority landscapes, such as payment for ecosystem services schemes, conservation trust funds, or blended-finance instruments.
- Implementation Support – assisting with early-stage design and mobilization of selected mechanisms to help ICF and its partners access and manage sustainable funding for long-term biodiversity outcomes.
This initiative represents a critical step toward bridging the gap between conservation goals and financial systems. By integrating CSF’s expertise in environmental economics and CFA’s expertise in conservation finance with ICF’s decades of ecological leadership, the partnership aims to mobilize sustainable investment for species recovery, ecosystem protection, and community resilience.
In the broader context of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and global commitments to close the $700-billion annual biodiversity financing gap, this collaboration exemplifies how science-based conservation organizations can pair ecological priorities with economic strategy. The outcomes will not only strengthen the protection of cranes and their habitats but also contribute practical models for nature-positive financing that can be replicated across global conservation landscapes.
Learn more about the International Crane Foundation and their work to build a world where cranes can flourish, and people can thrive.
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Photo Credit: Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum), also known as the Crested Crane, in Uganda. Photo courtesy of the International Crane Foundation.