Conservation and economic development do not have to be in conflict — in fact, they can be aligned so that each strengthens the other. Zoma Lab, the family office of Ben and Lucy Ana Walton, is exploring this possibility through projects that use conservation as a tool for promoting rural economic development.
One of Zoma Lab’s key roles is as a connector and convenor, says Ben Walton, co-founder of Zoma Lab.
For example, Zoma Lab helped create a partnership along with the World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy and the Pew Charitable Trusts called Enduring Earth. The project promotes the PFP model, which stands for Project Finance for Permanence. This model works with governments, local communities, funders and others to create an agreement for the protection and management of conservation areas, to advance both biodiversity targets and community prosperity. It uses support from philanthropic donors to unlock government investment.
The Enduring Earth partnership has launched six projects in countries including Brazil and Colombia and has secured $1.7 billion in durable financing. Ten additional projects are underway.
“What we at Zoma brought to this is helping to professionalize the governance, developing additional and innovative financing opportunities, and promoting the importance of community economic development within each project plan,” Walton says.
The PFP model is just one of the possible funding mechanisms.
“We have been supportive of helping restructure sovereign debt — an approach developed by The Nature Conservancy — where a piece of the savings that comes from reducing the interest rate can go toward community development and conservation,” Walton says.
In 2020, Zoma Lab launched the Global Permanence Fund to lead their work with Enduring Earth, but also to develop other projects in parallel such as SPACES, a partnership with McKinsey and Systemiq that helps countries make plans for how to meet their “30 By 30” conservation targets, assisting in developing potential projects for the Enduring Earth pipeline.
“Whether it’s a PFP or a sovereign debt deal or something more small scale, those teams are going in and creating the first couple steps of planning with these countries,” Walton says.
In addition, Zoma Lab has been working with McKinsey consultants to develop a more robust approach to community economic development through conservation, particularly for communities that are remote enough that they are unlikely to attract investments.
“Through these conservation plans, you can reach these hard-to-reach communities and support job growth, education, and sustainable practices to support whatever the community’s primary livelihoods are,” Walton says.
Zoma Lab’s work in Chile has informed some of this international work.
Until Zoma Lab halted its investments in Chile due to civil unrest, the group had been making investments in Chile similar to those in Colorado, focused on water scarcity, energy grid modernization and workforce development.
Zoma Lab’s philanthropic work in Chile is continuing. Lucy Ana Walton, a child psychologist who is from Chile, primarily works with their foundation in Chile, Fundación Viento Sur. Early childhood development is one area of focus, along with aiding recovery from natural disasters.
“I was always surprised at how similar the problems we have in Colorado and Chile were, from water scarcity to grid resiliency to the need for more career pathways for students,” Walton says.
One part of Zoma Lab’s work in Chile was partnering on a PFP in 2019.
“How could we reach these communities in remote parts of Chile? It made sense to me that it was a great pathway to use conservation as a tool to get to those communities, but also raising the importance of community economic development in those conversations,” Walton says. “If a community in a specific area is not thriving because of the conservation practices on a parcel of land, then the land will constantly be under threat. If the community is engaged and benefitting from the conservation plan, then they’ll be a partner in that effort.”
Demonstrating the success of this approach will help other countries as well.
“If we can help develop this tool, it will help Chile, but it also has had a massive impact on a lot of other countries around the world,” Walton says.