Impact investing

How to measure the performance of forestry projects?

By Alexander Watson on October 29 2014

Best practice is needed for impact investing in sustainable forestry

98% of investors recognize the importance of standardized impact metrics for their investment decision making. However, to date non of such metrics adapted to the forestry context were available. Consequently, forestry is underrepresented as an asset class in large investment portfolios (Glauner 2011, p. 14) due to the absence of widely accepted forest valuation standards including performance assessment methods. Investors and loan officers feel impeded to allocate capital into this nontransparent market. High transaction cost for individual forest valuation and due diligences make investments unattractive. A low liquidity for immature forestry plantations in the secondary market further inhibits capital flow. To unleash more investments into the sustainable forestry sector, globally accepted standards need to be developed to measure, evaluate and report on the forest project performance. Decision makers on the high strategic level will then be enabled to evaluate forest investments more accurately. Best practice standards which measure the social, environmental and financial success will help to grow the credibility of the forestry investment sector.

in Impact investing, Risk management, Sustainable forest management, Uncategorized

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Results: forest investment business plan workshop

By Alexander Watson on January 23 2014

Revision of the business plan by incorporating comments and advices of the workshop We want to say thank you to all participants of the workshop for their input, especially we want to thank Bruce McKelvie for making his forest investment business plan available. At the following...

in Business development, Case studies, Economy, Impact investing, Sustainable forest management

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Building Bridges Between Impact Investors and Sustainable Forestry

By Alexander Watson on November 23 2013

The challenge

The annual worldwide deforestation is about 13 million hectares, predominantly in the tropics. We believe that reforestation is one opportunity to counter deforestation. At the same time it can help to satisfy the increasing demand for timber, which is estimated to grow by 50 percent by 2050.

in Economy, Impact investing, Risk management, Sustainable forest management

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How to Find Impact Investors to Finance Your Sustainable Business

By admin on October 04 2013

Guest Post by Marta Maretich, Chief Writer for Maximpact.com So, you’ve written the business plan. Congratulations! (And thanks to OpenForests for their useful guide to writing a business plan for a sustainable forestry enterprise.) Now you’re ready to look past the trees and focus on the forest - the wide world of impact investment. It’s time to go out and raise capital. But where do you start?

in Business development, Impact investing, Uncategorized

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Workshop: forest investment business plan

By Alexander Watson on September 03 2013

Overview Online practice session with Q&A | start: 16.09.2013 | location: Impact Forestry Forum Introductory article on the workshop: What should a successful business plan look like? Download: forest investment plan Manual for using the forum Forum policy We recommend to start the workshop with reading the introductory article, which provides...

in Business development, Economy, Impact investing, Sustainable forest management, Uncategorized

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What should a successful business plan look like?

By Alexander Watson on September 02 2013

Theory and experiences of writing a forest investment business plan for sustainable forestry projects

Talking about forest investment business plans is a wide field. In this introduction, we focus on general components of the business plan, like goals, presentation formats, content and information quality. Prepared with these background information we present and discuss a real business plan in the practice session. This more specific discussion takes place at the Impact Forestry Forum. Find the business plan for download at the end of this article.

in Business development, Economy, Impact investing, Sustainable forest management, Uncategorized

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People-Centred Land Governance for Impact Investing in Sustainable Forestry

By Alexander Watson on May 30 2013

Prevent land grabbing: Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Land Tenure

At the Global Land Forum in Antigua, Guatemala, the International Land Coalition reported about the observed increasing levels of land grabbing and land concentration that are embedded in wider political and economic choices, including poorly regulated investment frameworks and poor governance that do not respond to the needs of rural communities, undermine democratic processes, create unhealthy environments and unequal societies, and perpetuate poverty and hunger. To avoid negative effects like land grabbing, Impact Investing for Sustainable Forestry (IISF) requires strict guidelines for responsible governance of land tenure rights.

in Impact investing, Vision

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Why More is More: Accelerating Change in the Impact Investing Sector

By admin on November 23 2012

It seems like the impact investing sector is growing by leaps and bounds these days. OpenForests is a good example of the kind of forward-looking organization that now uses impact models to support its efforts to bring positive change. And there are many more joining the sector every day. Maximpact.com, the online portal I founded, was designed to serve the needs of what this growing community of impact investors. It’s a platform where all the players, whether they are entrepreneurs, intermediaries or funds, can list impact deals of all kinds at no cost. Once they join, they can see deals offered by others and use the site to make and scale deals on a global basis. As a piece of sector infrastructure, the platform’s main purpose is to accelerate deal-flow. Our higher purpose, however, is to accelerate the rate at which we do good for our planet and it's inhabitants.

in Economy, Impact investing

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