Conservation Partners

Conservation International

CI conserves Earth’s living heritage by working in alliances to protect the world’s highest priority areas for biodiversity and has identified 25 biodiversity hot spots that are the focus of its international efforts. These hot spots are biologically rich areas that are under extreme threat. Together, they contain more than 60 percent of the total global biodiversity on just 1.4 percent of Earth’s land surface. Southern Belize is one of these hot spots.EcoLogic Finance

EcoLogic Finance

Targeting the rural credit market, EcoLogic Finance provides loan capital to support low-income communities whose business activities foster environmental conservation and grassroots economic development. Ecologic Finance has approved a loan in 2002 to Belize Lodge & Excursions. Founded in late 1999, EcoLogic Finance manages a portfolio of $25,000 to $500,000 loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises that do not meet traditional requirements to access loans from local financial institutions. Target sectors include agroforestry (shade-grown and sustainable agriculture), wild-harvested products, certified wood, sustainable fisheries, and ecotourism.

The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy's EcoEnterprises Fund approved an investment in Belize Lodge & Excursions Limited in 2003. This new partnership adds support to BLE's ecotourism and conservation initiative in Southern Belize. Since its inception, The Nature Conservancy has been at the forefront of devising creative solutions to address the ever-increasing challenges to conservation. EcoEnterprises Fund is one of the latest developments in this pursuit.

The fund – a joint initiative of The Nature Conservancy and the Inter-American Development Bank – uses the tools and principles of venture capital to protect natural areas in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a venture fund for nature, uniting business and conservation.

The fund uses market principles to protect some of the wildest and most biologically diverse areas of the planet. From helping to conserve rain forest habitat for jaguar to restoring and cultivating degraded lands, these companies are proving that business and the environment can advance common goals. Each successful venture not only helps protect the environment but also strengthens nonprofit organizations and creates economic alternatives for local people.