Islamic finance is a unique form of socially responsible investment that abides with the Shari’ah Islamic law, principles and rules. Shari’ah does not permit receipt and payment of "riba" (interest), "gharar" (excessive uncertainty), "maysir" (gambling), short sales or financing activities that it considers harmful to society. Instead, the parties must share the risks and rewards of a business transaction. Islamic finance and particularly green Sukuk are emerging as alternative green finance products.

Government or civil society extension services decrease the costs of improved management of marine and land resources for private individuals and groups. Extension services - especially in rural remote areas - have been decreased substantially in many countries and replaced with sales and marketing services for products harmful to the environment such as engineered seeds, fertilizers and pesticides - ultimately generating higher costs to government for environmental and health issues.

Government supports conservation and restoration actions on private lands that decrease the costs of land management for private and communal land owners. This creates an incentive for land owners to pursue conservation actions through cost reduction and public private partnerships with government. An example is the Natural Resources programme in South Africa where support is provided for the removal of invasive alien species and land restoration.

Tax credits can be offered to land owners in exchange for conservation and restoration activities on private land that contributes to established conservation objectives. Systems can be established at a national or local level. Tax credits may be transferable to other entities and thus hold a higher value for land owners lacking large tax liabilities.

An informal or formal commitment by a community, private landowner, NGO or corporate landowner to sustainable manage and/or formally protect a specified land or marine area. Incentives are sometimes provided to encourage or support landowner participation.

Direct or indirect public transfer or other incentive to businesses for advancing conservation outcomes, e.g. investing in technology upgrades that consume less natural capital such as land or water.

Direct or indirect public transfer or other incentive to business for the adoption of sustainable business practices that help to improve biodiversity management. Explicit subsidies, financed either on-budget or off-budget (e.g. through a State Owned Enterprises), comprise monetary transfer -including income support (producer); market price support (consumer and producer); export subsidies (producer); public procurement above the market price; foregone taxation including reduced taxation, tax breaks, tax rebates, accelerated depreciation of assets; in-kind provision of inputs and services, including extension services; in-kind provision of infrastructure; provision of capital at concessional rates.

Local revenues, budgeting and spending impact biodiversity through managing land use, natural resource exploitation, local protected areas, and financing biodiviversity supportive programmes and projects. Guidelines for increasing effectiveness and biodiversity impact of local budgets can enhance impact and direct funds to biodiversity.

External barriers for timely budget execution are often related to relationships among the treasury and the spending agencies. They may refer to the timing and amount of transfers as well to the clarification and strengthening of management responsibilities. While not specific to biodiversity, these measures can and should be considered by conservation organizations.

Internal barriers for timely and effective budget execution are often related to financial planning capacity gaps, weak accounting systems, systemic corruption practices, and the absense or poor design or individual performance and incentive systems. These barriers can be addressed through organizational capacity development (people and systems). While not specific to biodiversity, these measures can and should be considered by conservation organizations.