Paper short abstract:

This paper interrogates the rising prominence of philanthro-environmentalists in conservation governance. I trace how they seek to reconfigure and rescale state conservation behavior in Chile using a novel, not-for-profit conservation finance mechanism called Project Finance for Permanence.

Paper long abstract:

Scientists and policymakers are sounding the alarm on the biodiversity crisis. They warn that in addition to accelerating rates of species and habitat loss, there is a widening financing gap between the total cost of global conservation goals and the actual amount spent by national governments and other sources. Conservation philanthropy is increasingly regarded as key to closing this financing gap, especially in countries of the Global South where the greatest conservation gains are concentrated but where national governments often cite a lack of fiscal and administrative capacity to pursue these gains. This paper interrogates the rising prominence of big, international philanthropic foundations (BIPFs) in conservation governance, and particularly a class of actors I call ‘philanthro-environmentalists.’ Philanthro-environmentalists are distinguished from two other actor classes already receiving significant scholarly attention – BINGOs and philanthrocapitalists – in that they do not seek to make conservation pay for itself through market-based, for-profit interventions. Rather, they seek to leverage their money and influence to improve funding and political guarantees for state-owned conservation areas. Taking Chile as a case, I trace how a transnational network of philanthro-environmentalists is using a novel, not-for-profit conservation finance mechanism known as Project Finance for Permanence to secure substantial political commitments from the state in exchange for substantive philanthropic support for a large-scale national parks initiative in Chilean Patagonia. I argue that philanthro-environmentalism aims to address the biodiversity crisis not only by harnessing private, philanthropic wealth but also by reconfiguring and rescaling state conservation behavior in Chile and beyond.