Diversifying Funding for Freshwater Restoration using Nature-Based Solutions: Lessons from the MERLIN project (02/202025)

Key messages:

1. Diversifying sources of funding and financing is necessary to scale up freshwater ecosystem restoration and meet current EU policy targets.
   
   
2. While restoration teams recognise the need to diversify, they reveal a marked cautiousness in exploring private sources of funding and finance.
   
   
3. Barriers relate to specialised language and terminology, perceptions of reputational risk, and difficulty to articulate viable business plans for opportunities unlocked by ecosystem restoration.
   
   
4. Committed restoration teams put significant efforts in building new skills and capacity in socio- economics, business, and finance to communicate and engage effectively with the private sector.
   
   
5. Support programmes, pilot initiatives, and guidance are needed to successfully accompany restoration teams in their diversification journey.
   
   
6. More effective enforcement of existing policies and regulations is needed to narrow the funding gap, while new ones must foster responsible private spending, lending and investment in restoration.