Investing in Natural Capital: Innovations Supporting Much-Needed Financing for Nature

Investing in natural capital is crucial for sustainable socioeconomic development, as over half of global GDP significantly depends on nature and biodiversity. However, natural capital, which includes essential natural resources such as forests, water and soil, is in significant decline today. This insight report aims to provide a framework for evaluating how innovation can mobilize more investment for natural capital. Read more.

Why innovation is key to unlocking more investment in natural capita

  • Economic models fail to take proper account of natural capital – the world’s stock of natural resources.
  • A change in focus and increased investment, particularly from the private sector, in nature-positive business models is critical.
  • A new World Economic Forum report explores trends in natural capital investing and the opportunities for change. Read more.

Grassroots Pathway to Biodiversity Recovery

Does this sound like your organisation?

  1. A community-based organisation or local NGO working in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka,
    Bangladesh, Myanmar, or Bhutan
  2. Working with Indigenous People or Local Communities (IPLCs)
  3. Working across any of the following areas: biodiversity conservation, sustainable
  4. livelihood development, land rights advocacy, environmental protection, or rural development

We invite you to participate in a first-of-its-kind survey that aims to map the landscape of grassroots action in South Asia.
Read more.

Accelerating biodiversity-positive impact: A conversation with Silverstrand Capital’s Kelvin Chiu

The first cohort under Silverstrand Capital’s Biodiversity Accelerator+ program included seven entities working on nature-based solutions and technology, ranging from GroundUp Conservation, an incubator for grassroots enterprises in biodiversity hotspots, to Nightjar, which produces an AI-enabled, real-time camera alert system to facilitate monitoring of protected areas. Read more.

Biodiversity intervention area: Capacity-Building, Consultancy

GroundUp Conservation works with Indigenous People and Local Communities (IPLCs) in India and Nepal, to incubate grassroots enterprises working at the intersection of conservation and livelihoods. With this work, they aim to empower the IPLCs to lead and benefit from eco-tourism and nature-positive product markets and break the chain of long-term donor-dependence. Read more.

GroundUp Conservation: Re-centering conservation around indigenous peoples and local communities

Radhika and I have worked in the development sector, particularly in community-led biodiversity conservation, landscape management, agriculture development, and climate adaptations for the last two decades. Read more.

The Proposal Advantage

GroundUp facilitated a Proposal Development and Writing workshop at LEDeG, Ladakh, attracting participation from more than 15 local organisations.

Scaling Conservation with Grassroots

Swapnil Chaudhari sharing about GroundUp at Silverstrand Capital’s Biodiversity Accelerator+ program kick-off meeting.

Koshi-Tappu: A wetland haven and its people ! – Megha Rao

‘Momos! I’ll have a plate of veg momos, please’. I was excited to finally visit Nepal and in a very stereotypical manner ordered the most-coveted dish of the country. But by the end of my field visit, I had learnt that Nepal is much more than just mountains and momos. Read more.

Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation Blog
Alumni Update: Swapnil Chaudhari

Swapnil Chaudhari is a 2012 Inlaks Ravi Sankaran Fellow who pursued an MPhil in Conservation Leadership at the University of Cambridge. He is the Founder CEO of GroundUp Conservation. Read more.