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Nominate a Candidate for the 2026 Conservation Innovation Award

The ILCN is now accepting nominations for the annual Conservation Innovation Award, which celebrates landmark innovations in land conservation policy and practice. The award provides a $10,000 stipend intended to foster the transfer and adaptation of conservation innovation around the globe. Nominations are due by June 30, 2026.

Nominate a Conservation Innovator
Featured Content

Paul rescues Henk's hat from the water. Photo Credit: Taylor Black, Eurosite
 
Wetlands as Climate Solutions: Eurosite's Nature-based Solutions Study Tour in Slovakia
By Taylor Black and Mónica Vidal
May 20, 2026
 
After a gust of wind blew Henk’s hat into the water, it didn’t take long for Paul to roll up his trousers and wade in to retrieve it. Armed with a walking stick, he returned hat-in-hand to a round of applause. This moment, on Day 3 of Eurosite’s Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Study Tour to Slovakia, captured the spirit of the week: people from across Europe forming connections through their shared dedication to protecting and restoring nature.

From 4-8 May 2026, conservation practitioners from ten European countries joined a Study Tour organised by Eurosite – the European Land Conservation Network and hosted by Slovak partners BROZ – Conservation Association and SOS/BirdLife Slovakia. Together, participants explored wetlands, salt marshes and restored floodplains that demonstrate how healthy ecosystems can address climate change, biodiversity loss and water scarcity simultaneously.

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Notes From the Field

What we're reading, watching, and listening to
The Last Mile Fund - Supporting innovative finance solutions that have the ability to go the distance to support nature for people
May 20, 2026
 
The Last Mile Fund is a collaboration between the Sustainable Finance Coalition and Conserve Global to address the 'missing middle' of capital between traditional limited grant funding and finance demanding higher ticket sizes and commercial returns. 

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Germany Funds Ambitious Investment in Peatlands
April 17, 2026
 
Germany's Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) has given the green light for a large-scale funding programme supporting peatland conservation and restoration that is the first of its kind in Europe. 1.75 billion € will be made available to facilitate peatland restoration work and compensate landowners and managers for rewetting their sites.
The Collaborative Stewardship Toolkit: a new resource from the California Landscape Stewardship Network
April 30, 2026
 
This toolkit is designed to support collaboratives as they develop into sustainable, robust and enduring efforts. It is particularly focused on operational and administrative needs, but provides exercises, worksheets, examples and resources that may be helpful for all phases of a collaborative's life cycle.

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Conservation Covenants and Easements: A Local Instrument Supporting Global Biodiversity Goals
May 25, 2026
 
Conservation covenants and easements are legal mechanisms for private landholders to contribute to long-term protection of natural values. This book furnishes a unique international legal and policy study of how covenants and easements in seven jurisdictions are supporting global biodiversity goals, and it considers how they may address new challenges associated with ecosystem restoration and climate change.

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Conservation covenants: what is the role of reciprocity?
April 7, 2026
 
This article from the Journal of Environmental Law explores how acknowledging and incorporating reciprocity in Australian conservation covenants could strengthen the tool's impacts, equity, and scope of utilization. The authors propose an approach to structuring reciprocity in these covenanting relationships.

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World Wildlife Fund launches OECM Platform
May 27, 2026
 
In April, the World Wildlife Fund launched a global platform dedicated to Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs), a one-stop shop designed to connect knowledge, practice, and people involved in OECMs globally. Access resources, guidance, news, case studies, courses and training, and more.

Explore the OECM Platform
Assessing Biodiversity Credits: New tool for land managers
May 21, 2026
 
The Landscape Finance Lab and Pärnu Catchment Action Site have developed this resource to help project managers assess the viability of biodiversity credits and their application to their projects.

Learn More
Recent Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Working Papers
Upcoming Events
Society for Conservation Biology: Virtual Seminar Series on Conservation Impact Evaluation and Implementation Science
 
The Impact Evaluation Working Group of the Society for Conservation Biology is running a virtual seminar series that brings leading researchers and practitioners together to share insights on evaluating and improving conservation outcomes. Sessions are open to a broad audience, and recordings of previous monthly seminars are available on their page.
 
Online
First Tuesday of every month
Learn More
EU Green Week 2026: Investing in a Nature Positive Economy
 
Organized by DG Environment, this conference will explore how nature can be a driver for EU citizens’ prosperity and quality of life, provide inspiration and put nature in its due place on the political agenda.  

Together with policymakers, investors, urban planners, businesses, naturalists, farmers and civil society, we will explore how nature-positive models work in practice, focusing on profitable sustainable farming, soil-health innovations, greening cities, and exciting new opportunities to reverse rural flight. 
 
Brussels, Belgium
June 3-4, 2026
Learn More
ILCN Webinar: Toward 30X30- Unlocking Community-Led Conservation Potential in Africa
 
The global target to protect 30% of the world’s land and waters by 2030 (30x30), adopted under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), presents both an opportunity and a significant challenge for Africa. While protected areas remain important, they cover only 16% of Africa’s landmass. Crucially, most of the continent’s wildlife exists outside these formal parks, on community and customary lands. Community-Led Conservation (CLC) has emerged as a proven, cost-effective model in which local communities are the primary decision-makers, managers, and beneficiaries of natural resource stewardship. Yet, CLC remains underfunded, inconsistently defined in global policy dialogues, and faces barriers such as insecure land rights, limited harmonized policies, and a lack of a unified collective voice. This webinar, convened by ILCN's Regional Representative for Africa, KWCA, and hosted by ILCN, aims to provide a platform for advancing discussions on Community-Led Conservation (CLC) as a pathway to realizing the 30x30 agenda across Africa.
 
Online
June 11, 2026, 09:00-10:30 ET (16:00-17:30 EAT)
Register
International Conference on Landcare and Sustainable Agriculture in the Indo-Pacific
 
Tropical ecosystems are among the most biodiverse on the planet, featuring rich habitats and complex, often competing demands on land use. This conference will spotlight evidence‑based challenges and opportunities for building sustainable agricultural systems within tropical landscapes. It will bring together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and farmers to explore sustainable agriculture, climate resilience, and community‑driven approaches to landscape management across the Indo‑Pacific region.

Nadi, Fiji
July 8-10, 2026
Learn More
Global Nature Positive Summit
 
The Global Nature Positive Summit is an international event focused on accelerating efforts to implement the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), agreed by 196 countries in 2022 with a commitment to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. The Summit will showcase bold examples from around the world, charting a path toward a nature-positive future in business, finance, and governance. 

Kumamoto, Japan
July 14-16, 2026
Learn More
 IUCN Australian Committee Symposium: 30x30 and Beyond

The IUCN Australian Committee is convening 30x30 and Beyond from 20–22 July, an interactive symposium exploring Australia’s progress toward conserving 30% of land, waters, and seas and preparing for the 2027 IUCN World Protected and Conserved Areas Congress.

Sydney, Australia
July 20-22, 2026
Learn More
We are excited to share stories from ILCN members. If you have a conservation initiative, opportunity, or event to share, please contact us at ILCN@lincolninst.edu.
The mission of the International Land Conservation Network is to connect organizations and people around the world that are accelerating voluntary private and civic sector action that protects and stewards land and water resources. 

Learn more at landconservationnetwork.org.
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