EQUATOR VENTURES

Equator Ventures is committed to unleashing and fostering local conservation enterprises and demonstrating that small and medium sized biodiversity businesses aren’t only good investments, but are also a driving force for ecologically sound and more equitable development.

Most of the world’s rural poor live in biodiversity-rich regions of the tropics. However, the riches of nature have not been translated into sustainable incomes for these populations. To the contrary: ongoing massive biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation have deepened poverty and insecurity. Too often, local people are forced to destroy the most precious capital they have - the biodiversity and ecosystems in their own backyard. Breaking this vicious cycle of poverty and biodiversity loss requires local ingenuity and the entrepreneurship to create new forms of income from the preservation rather than the over-harvesting of nature. More broadly, local conservation enterprises will play a crucial role in achieving the poverty reduction and environmental sustainability targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).