Conservation Strategy Fund is pleased to announce the next webinar in our Conservation Economics Initiative series. Presented in partnership with the Marine Ecosystem Services Partnership (MESP) at Duke University, "An Economic Instrument for Coral Reefs" is coming up on Wednesday, October 22nd at 11:00am EDT (10:00am CDT, 8:00am PDT, 5:00pm CET).

John Reid, CSF President, and Mariano Castro, Deputy Minister of Environmental Management. Photo courtesy of MINAM; http://www.minam.gob.pe Lima, Peru -- This morning, CSF President John Reid signed an agreement with Peru's Ministry of Environment (MINAM) to continue work on environmental compensation in Amazonian ecosystems. At least two case studies will be conducted.

Lionfish ready for the pan at Cozumel Fishermen's Coop © John Reid In 1992 Hurricane Andrew liberated a tankful of lionfish from a Florida aquarium. More may have been dumped in the sea before then and after, but the event stuck in the collective imagination as the start of a biological invasion.

From left to right: Laura Rodríguez, Eglé Flores, Eduardo Ponce Guevara, Ángela Mojica and CSF's Cecilia Ayala. © Eduardo Ponce Guevara It all began with four course graduates from CSF's International Training Course, held annually at Stanford University: Eduardo Ponce Guevara, Eglé Flores, Ángela Mojica and Laura Rodríguez. These alumni, all from Mexico and the surrounding area, dreamed of bringing the Economic Tools for Conservation Course back home to be conducted in Spanish for their colleagues.

Transport specialists and workshop participants, Asuncion, Paraguay Ecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) sustain hundreds of millions of people, but are threatened by a series of interlocking challenges. Rapid development and population growth have placed increasing pressure on natural resources. Pollution, deforestation, infrastructure, large-scale tourism development, invasive species, and over-fishing all threaten these highly bio-diverse ecosystems, as do the effects of climate change.

As part of CSF's Conservation Economics Initiative, we are developing an innovative online Coastal Conservation Economics course in partnership with Duke University. The 4-month distance-learning course will be launched in January 2015, and will include interactive lectures, video lessons, webinars, virtual office hours, readings, exercises and exams, with an expected time commitment of about 3 hours per week.

Want to know why environmental problems happen? How to value things in the natural environment? The essentials of fisheries and forestry economics? Step-by-step instructions on cost-benefit analysis? As part of the Conservation Economics Initiative, we just released an exciting new collection of video lessons intended for anyone interested in learning basic environmental economic concepts, refreshing what was learned in our courses, or to complement lectures.

As part of our expanding Conservation Economics Initiative, CSF held our first webinar last month in collaboration with the Marine Ecosystem Services Partnership (MESP) at Duke University. Brian Murray, Director for Economic Analysis from the Duke Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, discussed carbon sequestration benefits in terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

CSF is launching its Training Partner Network as part of our Conservation Economics Initiative to bring economics training to more conservation professionals around the world.  This effort is made possible thanks to a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. One of the cornerstones of the Initiative is a network of CSF Training Partner organizations offering conservation economics training in parts of the world where we do not have our own training teams.  The Network will be supported by CSF and by our academic partners throughout the globe.