Season 3 Episode 3: From Free to Priceless: The True Cost of Nature
Send us a textEvery breath you take is free - but in an economic system that only values what's priced, could this be nature's greatest vulnerability? In this rare podcast-meets-podcast exchange, David Meyers and Juan Pablo Romero (host of Poder Ambiental) flip between interviewer and interviewee to dissect this dangerous paradox. Their conversation transcends typical environmental gloom, revealing how innovative financial mechanisms are already transforming our relationship with nature - from biodiversity credits empowering Global South economies to debt-for-nature swaps creating billion-dollar conservation opportunities. As the two environmental specialists analyze not just what we say about nature but how we say it, they unveil why reframing our relationship with the natural world might be less about saving the planet and more about saving ourselves.Links:Juan Pablo Romero's Podcast website
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Season 3 Episode 2: The Gold Standard: Valuing Intact Nature While We Fix What's Broken
Send us a textWhat if we've built conservation markets backward? Mike Korchinsky, founder of Wildlife Works, reveals how we've created elaborate systems to pay for reducing destruction while assigning zero value to what remains intact. After pioneering REDD+ carbon credits that moved millions to indigenous communities, Korchinsky is now challenging both corporate leaders and environmental activists with a provocative framework: "The market is the worst form of conservation finance - except for all the others." His work with Amazonian indigenous peoples has produced a revolutionary financial instrument that values functioning ecosystems rather than just measuring avoided harm. Join this philosophical journey through the carbon market's turbulent history to discover why the future of biodiversity finance might depend on abandoning guilt-based "footprint" approaches for something radically simpler: recognizing and rewarding what communities have protected for millennia.Links:Wildlife Works websiteThe Kasigau Corridor REDD+ ProjectBiodiversity Stewardship Unit/methodology informationVerraCFA's Nature Credit Task Force
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Season 3 Episode 1: Rewilding Our Money: How Bioregions Are Growing Regenerative Economies from the Ground Up
Send us a textWhat if money flowed through landscapes like water - nurturing life and creating abundance - instead of extracting value and leaving depletion behind? Samantha Power, regenerative economist and co-founder of the BioFi Project, reveals how "bioregional financing facilities" keep capital rooted in places like nutrients in healthy soil. From community-governed trusts to venture studios supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs, her four innovative models challenge the assumption that finance must operate in opposition to nature. Already transforming economic relationships from California to the Amazon, these approaches build local capital aligned with living systems rather than extracting wealth from them. Join this paradigm-shifting conversation to discover not just how to increase investment in nature, but how to fundamentally reimagine our relationship with capital to serve life itself.Links:Samantha Power's book: "Bioregional Financing Facilities: Reimagining Finance to Regenerate Our Planet"The BioFi ProjectFinance for GaiaCommonlandPlanet Drum FoundationCapital InstituteFritjof Capra's work on living systems principles
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S2 Episode 6: BIOFUND - Revolutionizing Conservation Finance in Mozambique
Send us a textToday we dive into the remarkable story of Mozambique's BIOFUND, a trailblazing conservation trust fund that has revolutionized biodiversity protection in the country. Join our conversation with BIOFUND's visionary leaders, Dr. Narciso Matos and Sean Nazerali, as they share insights on the fund's innovative approach to engaging local communities, fostering public-private partnerships, and achieving impressive financial growth.Discussed in this Episode:BIOFUND's unique membership model for engaging conservation stakeholdersStrategies for efficiently disbursing funds to support protected areasThe critical role of conservation trust funds during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic Approaches for aligning community development with conservation goalsInnovative finance mechanisms being explored, such as biodiversity offsets and a conservation credit cardVision for BIOFUND's future growth and impact in Mozambique and beyond
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S2 Episode 5: Quantifying Nature - The Quest for Standardized Biodiversity Credits
Send us a textSinclair Vincent currently serves as the Senior Director of Sustainable Development, Program Development, and Innovation at Verra, a leading organization driving global investment in biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. In her role, Sinclair oversees the strategy, direction, and evolution of Verra's suite of programs, including the Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard, the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standards, and the Plastic Waste Reduction Standard. She is also spearheading the development of Verra's SD VISta Nature Framework, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at scaling investment in biodiversity conservation on a global scale. With a strong focus on market development, Sinclair engages with corporate, commercial, and government stakeholders to ensure Verra's programs empower users to set and achieve increasingly ambitious environmental and social goals.Discussed in this Episode:The crucial role of standardized measurement in scaling biodiversity credit marketsStrategies for engaging Indigenous peoples and local communities in nature conservationThe future of biodiversity credits and their potential to drive investment in natureNavigating the complex landscape of emerging biodiversity credit methodologiesInsights on building trust, transparency, and capacity in nascent nature markets
Join David Meyers and Kim Bonine as they speak with some of the world’s most innovative thinkers about how to transform economic incentive systems to work for the natural world and the people in it. The incentive systems that drive our behavior – from those that we've created through laws, commerce, and culture to those that evolved over our history on the planet – have led us to take Nature for granted. 4Nature guests are committed to restructuring financial, economic, and social incentives to be more nature positive, and transforming the role humanity plays within Nature.
Colombia