Strengthening Conservation Leadership with Economic Language

Background: Conservation Strategy Fund's (CSF) Numbers for Nature Training Institute is changing the way conservationists use economics to solve environmental challenges. Our unique and effective capacity development program in economics and finance provides the knowledge, skills, and language essential to solving environmental challenges. In this webinar, CSF Training Director Natalia Sanin will share key insights from CSF’s 28 years of training conservationists to use economics to negotiate for nature, with interactive experiments that demonstrate concepts in real time and a tour of economic tools that drive positive environmental outcomes. At a time when global-scale environmental changes are driven by diverse economic factors, environmentalists need the "language of economics" to advocate for green solutions in terms that key decision-makers can relate to. Objectives: Explore a few ways our behavior shapes markets and the key environmental challenges that emerge from them. Introduce a range of economic tools that can strengthen environmental arguments and decision-making. Learn and discuss a short case study from CSF to bridge the gap between economic theory and how these tools are leveraged in practice. Share further resources and ways to engage with CSF on these topics. Format: This webinar will largely be guided by a presentation, with several opportunities for participants to engage directly with the material. First, through three short demonstrative experiments to test their behavior and how it compares to economic models, and second, through a case study discussion and Q&A session. Participants may also use the chat to ask questions throughout the session. General Structure: 15 min Welcome and Opening Remarks PCCB and UNFCCC Secretariat CSF and its N4N Training Institute Introduction 15 min Framing environmental problems through an economic lens Why do we need economic thinking? Types of goods and where we categorize the environment 15 min Live Experiment - Capital Theory and the Time Value of Money Live Experiment - Hyperbolic Discounting Live Experiment - Prospect Theory 15 min Economic tools to support environmental decision making Valuation Cost-Benefit Analysis Environmental Policy - Market-based solutions Conservation finance 20 min Case Study Exploration and Discussion Overview Discussion and Q&A 10 min Additional resources and ways to engage with CSF Outcomes: Participants will leave the webinar with: An understanding of how economics can support people and nature Some basic applications of how economics can predict human behavior, and applications to environmental challenges Types of economic tools that can support sustainable decision-making Who Conservation Strategy Fund is and opportunities for learning more about economics and finance for nature