The investment arrangement struck with Canopy Capital could see Iwokrama financially independent in another two years, its board chairman said yesterday.
The agreement between Iwokrama and Canopy Capital was made public on March 27 at the world’s first Biodiversity and Finance Conference in New York. It opens the way for financial markets to price the ‘utility value’ of the Iwokrama rainforests.
The forest and its services and eco-system would be put to dollar value after a process of assessment and valuation. Canopy Capital is injecting funding into the preservation and sustainable utilisation of Iwokrama’s forests in exchange for a share of the rights to eco-system services it provides.
According to its website, Canopy Capital was established in 2007 to drive capital to the rainforest canopy. It said that 20 per cent of the company is held by the Global Canopy Programme, a UK charity dedicated to the research and preservation of tropical forests. The remaining 80 per cent is funded by a dozen international investors, including the Waterloo Foundation.
