Six key trends to watch at the upcoming LAC Regional Dialogue on Biodiversity Finance

From strengthening biodiversity finance policies to mobilizing private investment and exploring new market-based instruments, countries across Latin America and the Caribbean are advancing new approaches to financing nature.

From 1–3 September 2026, representatives from across the region will gather in Quito, Ecuador, for the 12^th Regional Dialogue on Biodiversity Finance for Latin America and the Caribbean, organized by the UNDP Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN).

Over three days, participants will exchange experiences, examine emerging approaches and learn from practical examples from across Latin America and the Caribbean. The discussions will focus on three interconnected challenges: strengthening the policy foundations for biodiversity finance; addressing financing gaps for conservation and protected areas; and catalysing opportunities for biodiversity-positive investment.

Here are six key areas to watch.

1. Making nature part of the economic and policy agenda

One of the central questions in Quito will be how countries can move biodiversity beyond the environmental agenda and position nature as an asset for prosperity.

The Dialogue will bring together government representatives from across Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss how biodiversity can be better integrated into national policies, planning and financing decisions.

This reflects a broader shift in biodiversity finance: protecting nature is increasingly being considered not only as an environmental responsibility, but also as an economic and development priority.

Countries will also exchange lessons from applying the BIOFIN methodology, including their experiences with biodiversity expenditure reviews and other assessments that help governments understand how biodiversity is currently financed, identify financing gaps and develop solutions to address them.

A dedicated discussion will look at the particular challenges facing Small Island Developing States (SIDS), where economies, communities and public finances can be especially closely linked to healthy marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

2. Rethinking how protected areas are financed

Protected areas are at the heart of conservation efforts across the region but securing sufficient and sustainable financing for their management remains a major challenge.

The second day of the Dialogue will take participants beyond the conference room to the Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve in Ecuador, where they will explore the links between protected areas, tourism and community finance.

The field visit will provide a practical setting for discussions about how protected areas can diversify their sources of revenue while generating benefits for surrounding communities.

Back in the Dialogue, countries and experts will examine both established and innovative financial solutions, including entrance and service fees and other approaches to strengthening protected-area and community finance.

The focus will be not only on raising more resources, but on designing financing mechanisms that can support conservation over the long term while recognising the role and needs of local communities.

3. National development banks as champions for nature

A major theme of the Dialogue will be the role of financial institutions in moving biodiversity finance from relatively small-scale initiatives towards larger investment flows.

National and regional development banks have significant potential to help make that transition.

A dedicated session will examine how these institutions can become champions of biodiversity-positive finance, drawing on experiences from Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and the Caribbean.

Examples on the agenda range from green bonds and water security to rural green investments supporting women and nature.

The discussion points to an important opportunity for the region: using existing financial institutions and instruments to incorporate nature into mainstream development finance rather than treating biodiversity as a separate financing niche.

4. Turning biodiversity risks into investment opportunities

Mobilizing private capital will be another major focus in Quito.

Businesses and financial institutions increasingly face risks associated with biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. At the same time, the transition towards nature-positive economies is creating opportunities for new businesses, financial products and investment models.

The Dialogue will explore how this shift can be accelerated through a session focused specifically on moving from risks to opportunities and scaling up private investment for nature.

Experiences from entrepreneurs, investment organizations, governments and financial-market actors across the region will help participants examine what is needed to create stronger pipelines of biodiversity-positive investments.

The challenge is not simply finding more capital. It is also about creating policies, institutions, business models and investment conditions that can channel finance towards activities that generate measurable benefits for biodiversity and people.

5. The next frontier of market-based instruments for nature

Some of the fastest-evolving areas of biodiversity finance will come together in Quito.

Participants will examine biodiversity credits, carbon markets and emissions trading systems, payments for ecosystem services, biodiversity offsets, habitat banking and environmental funds as part of a wider discussion on inclusive market-based instruments for climate and nature.

Country experiences will include biodiversity credits in Brazil, payments for ecosystem services and offsetting mechanisms in Chile, and biodiversity offsets and habitat banking in Mexico.

These instruments could open new channels of finance for conservation and restoration, but their expansion also raises important questions around environmental integrity, governance, inclusion and how benefits are distributed.

The Dialogue will provide space to examine what countries are learning as these mechanisms evolve and what safeguards and enabling conditions will be needed if they are to deliver benefits for biodiversity.

6. Putting communities and women at the centre of biodiversity finance

Across the three days, another important theme will run through the discussions: biodiversity finance needs to work for the people who live with and depend on nature.

Community finance will feature prominently in discussions around protected areas and tourism, while the final day will explore how gender considerations can be incorporated directly into the design of biodiversity finance solutions.

Participants will hear about a co-design methodology used to integrate women’s priorities and perspectives into initiatives including +Natura +Rural, Naturalia and Raíces (Costa Rica).

This shifts the conversation from simply asking how much finance can be mobilized to asking how finance is designed, who participates in decisions and who ultimately benefits.

From policy foundations to investment

The structure of the Quito Dialogue reflects the journey that countries themselves are navigating.

Strong policies and institutions create the foundations for biodiversity finance. Sustainable financing mechanisms can then help close persistent gaps in areas such as protected areas and conservation. And public and private financial institutions can help take successful approaches to a much greater scale.

Throughout the three days, participants will have opportunities to exchange experiences directly with their peers, including through methodological dialogues, field-based learning and a BioFinder marketplace designed to connect practitioners and facilitate the exchange of biodiversity finance solutions.

As countries work to mobilize more finance for biodiversity and implement their national biodiversity priorities, the lessons emerging from Quito could help shape the next biodiversity finance solutions across the region.