This is the first of 5 activities that formed the Private Finance Learning Challenge, hosted by the UN FAO’s Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism team and the Landscape Finance Lab, which ran from Feb-March 2023.

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Christophe Besacier from FAO introduces the Learning Challenge and the broader context for this first session, followed by Florian Vernaz, from Landscape Finance Lab who gives participants an overview of the role of the private sector in a landscape. Topics covered include:

• what is meant by ‘the private sector’ and who are the key actors?
• what influence and impact do they have on a landscape?
• what are the mechanisms for investment to support restoration?

Akshay Regmi from Climate Catalyst and Andika Putraditama from Rimba Collective (by Lestari Capital) offer case studies in peatland restoration and palm-oil supply-chain landscapes respectively, with perspectives on the challenges and opportunities private sector investment presents for both. 

Speakers

Florian Vernaz, Landscape Lead at Landscape Finance Lab

Florian holds over 15 years experience in responsible investment and sustainable landscape planning. Before joining the Lab, Florian worked with leading environmental organizations and consultancies, such as the Global Green Growth Institute and Daemeter, to facilitate green investment at landscape level. Florian notably facilitated the development of the Environmental and Social Action Plan for the first Green Landscape Bond in Southeast Asia. He is passionate about rural development in eastern Indonesia and has assisted numerous social enterprises to build equitable market linkages for local communities, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua.

Akshay Regmi, Business Engagement Manager, Climate Catalyst

Akshay has pursued diverse roles in the international development, impact investment, and social entrepreneurship spaces. Prior to joining Climate Catalyst, he started a social enterprise based out of Asia, managed Kiva.org's South and SE Asia portfolio of investments to social impact organisations, and worked on designing private sector development operations with the World Bank. He holds degrees from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and Johns Hopkins University in the US.

Andika Putraditama, Head of Rimba Collective at Lestari Capital

Andika leads the implementation and strategy development of Lestari Capital’s flagship fund, the Rimba Collective, with the aim of delivering USD 1 billion to forest conservation and restoration in Southeast Asia over a 25-year. In his current capacity, he oversees the operational aspect, management, quality, and consistency of the delivery of the Rimba Collective unique financing mechanism. This includes working across multiple work streams such as providing input for the legal, financial, and technical due diligence for projects on the pipeline, supervising and supporting the development of communication materials for Rimba Collective, and engaging directly with users of Rimba Collective.

Christophe Besacier, Senior Forestry Officer, UN FAO

Christophe Besacier is a Senior Forestry Officer and currently coordinating the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM) at FAO, where he is providing technical assistance and implementing restoration projects in more than twenty countries. He mobilized resources to scale-up restoration with multiple key financial partners. He is involved in major international restoration initiatives such as the Bonn Challenge, the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration (GPFLR) and the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. He is leading the Task Force on Best Practices established in the context of this UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and he coordinated the preparation of the publication on the ‘’principles for ecosystem restoration to guide the united nations decade 2021-2030