Scottish Nature Finance Pioneers

Hosted by the Scottish Forum on Natural Capital, the Scottish Nature Finance Pioneers open network provides an opportunity for communities, landowners and other stakeholders to work together to create a new high integrity market of nature-based solution projects, financed using new mechanisms beyond traditional grants. Biodiversity, public engagement with nature, natural flood management, water quality, and carbon sequestration provide the current focus for developing new ways of bundling and securing ‘forever green' revenues in exchange for the multiple benefits generated. The scope of opportunities include integrated management of both land and sea. Our open network is creating real momentum around building investment readiness, identifying potential projects and equipping them with the early-stage tools to enable them to begin this journey. Founded by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, SEPA, NatureScot, Scottish Forestry and Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), with direct funding support from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and strategic partnership arrangements with the Green Finance Initiative and Ecosystems Knowledge Network, we are the identified ‘devolved' open platform for coordinating and convening the action in Scotland in relation to the recommendations made by the Financing UK Nature Recovery coalition. With an emphasis on what can be achieved through open collaboration, the Pioneers are working together on a range of nature finance market development activities : > Integrated Land-Use and Community Driven Projects > Business Model Development and Proof of Concepts > Seed Investment and Patient Capital > Financial Mechanisms > Capacity and Capability Building > Market Development and Frameworks > Policy and Regulation > Codes and Standards > Scientific Evidence Base