In December, the United States Congress voted to establish the United States Foundation for International Conservation (USFIC). With its creation, the foundation holds the promise to become transformational in providing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Once in a generation, a new idea comes along that takes root in America to support good natural resource management for the future.
In December, the United States Congress voted to establish the United States Foundation for International Conservation (USFIC). With its creation, the foundation holds the promise to become transformational in providing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America with the expertise and funding they so often lack, leveraged 2:1 by private-sector funding, to conserve parks and protected areas for the benefit of their peoples, their communities, and their biodiversity and promote prosperity, good governance, and stability. For ICCF and the leadership of the U.S. House and Senate International Conservation Caucuses (ICC), the creation of the USFIC is a landmark moment, an idea that has taken root but one that will require ongoing stewardship to flourish and fulfill its promise for the future of conservation.
This effort - a combined and bipartisan one that has included leading international conservation NGOs, hunting groups, and veterans’ groups - will be defined by its success, and the enactment of the U.S. Foundation for International Conservation Act (USFICA) is only the first step. It will require continued bipartisan collaboration to ensure the foundation has the financial resources and oversight necessary to meet its objectives, and it will require steadfast leadership on behalf of the foundation’s board, officers, grantees, and private-sector funders to maximize its impact.
The USFIC will be significant for several reasons.
It is designed to be targeted and streamlined, with projects intended to demonstrate a path for parks and protected areas to become self-sustaining. It leverages the strengths of the public and private sectors and enhances U.S. engagement and presence in countries where China and Russia, as well as organized crime and terrorist organizations, seek outsized influence at the expense of good natural resource management.
By targeting large landscapes with the highest biodiversity and most significant ecological value, these conservation efforts can most effectively and efficiently secure clean air and clean water, food security, and stability and provide people with health and economic benefits. A 2020 analysis by ICCF partner African Parks identified 161 such “anchor areas,” and a similar story can no doubt be told across Asia and Latin America. Protected and conserved areas are widely recognized as one of the most important tools for conserving biodiversity that benefits people. Most, however, lack dedicated long-term financial support, and many exist only on paper.
By leveraging funding from private philanthropy and other development partners in a 2:1 private:public match, the value of each federal dollar to advance projects in America’s interest is magnified.Leading philanthropic endeavors, like the Rob Walton Foundation, the Bezos Earth Fund, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, among others, are committed and stand ready to partner with the USFIC.
These investments in people and places are in America’s national security interest.
Competition for increasingly scarce natural resources often leads to instability, conflict, and radicalization. Meanwhile, America’s adversaries, through economic and military interventions, aim to extract countries’ geopolitical loyalties and natural resources at the expense of local people. Criminal syndicates and terrorist organizations take advantage of weak conservation governance, reaping financial return from illegal extraction and trade in wildlife, timber, and minerals. By contrast, U.S. support to manage parks and protected areas can yield development and security gains, building sustainable economies and good governance in and around these areas.
For ICCF and the ICC leadership in the House and Senate, the USFIC’s creation and success will be a generational conservation effort. Led by co-chairs of the International Conservation Caucus and leading members of the caucus, passage of the USFICA demonstrates the impact of this strong bipartisan collaboration.
It was twenty-four years ago that the International Conservation Caucus was founded in the House around the creation of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, a public-private partnership that resulted in tens of millions of acres dedicated to national parks and protected areas in the Congo Basin.
The mission of the International Conservation Caucus? To act on the conviction that “the United States of America has the opportunity, the obligation, and the interests to advance the conservation of natural resources for this and future generations.” ICCF was founded to support the leadership of the caucus, recognizing that a caucus with a dedicated foundation to back its mission would have a greater impact and ensure continuity in leadership. As a result of that continuity, caucus leaders today have acted on their shared conviction in proposing and championing the USFICA through Congress. The USFIC holds enormous promise, and it’s up to all of us to see it fulfilled.
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