Asia’s Landscape Guardians: Investing in Tiger Recovery to Reach Global Biodiversity and Climate Goals

As the first week of the UN CBD COP16 Biodiversity Conference in Colombia draws to a close, the Tiger Conservation Coalition and the GEF held a side event to explore proven and emerging strategies to narrow the funding gap in tiger conservation.

The event was moderated by Midori Paxton, Director, Nature Hub, UNDP and the high-level panel consisted of:

• Michael Bennet, Manager, Market Solutions and Structured Finance, World Bank Treasury

• Hannah Fairbank, Senior Biodiversity Specialist GEF Secretariat

• Kirsten Schuijt, Director General, WWF-International

• Karma Tshering, Managing Director, Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation

• Joe Walston, Executive VP for Global Conservation, WCS

The panel of experts in tiger conservation, nature-based solutions and nature finance discussed strategies to narrow the gap in tiger conservation financing with whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches, including opportunities for the private sector to engage.

The side event built on the 2024 Sustainable Finance for Tiger Landscapes Conference in Bhutan, and explored the importance of increasing finance for tiger conservation. The high-level panel discussed how sustained recovery of tigers and their landscapes can help achieve the Global Biodiversity Framework and shared case studies from tiger range countries under the Global Wildlife Program.