The Global Conservation Standard (GCS) aims to make environmental conservation pay for landowners and local populations worldwide, based on measurable ecosystem benefits.

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Through the issuance and sale of Conservation Credit Units, money is channelled to the legal-land use holder and a Stakeholder Foundation that has the mandate to invest in the empowerment of sustainable local livelihoods, thereby creating a “core conservation area” and “commercial buffer zone”.

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Natural Strategies’ Director Alexander Koch served as an alternate member of the technical panel of the GCS. The panel’s functions are to provide technical guidance to the development of conservation management plans and to assess and approve project proposals.