Conservation benefits when people benefit from conservation. This is the understanding at the heart of WWF’s Nature Pays initiative, a new global approach that aims to build the capacity of WWF's international network of offices to strengthen the development of Community Conservation Enterprises (CCEs) and improve outcomes for people and nature.

CCEs are small, locally-run businesses providing livelihoods that also support the protection of habitats and biodiversity. Communities organized around CCEs are powerful allies for conservation. By providing communities with a long-term economic benefit, they can build support for conservation, while providing positive outcomes for both people and nature.

However, CCEs often face significant obstacles in trying to make a sustainable living. Whether it’s the administrative challenge of establishing a business or a lack of capital to get things off the ground, these obstacles can prevent many enterprises from reaching their full potential.

Nature Pays - part of WWF's Markets Practice - leverages WWF's global expertise, contacts and resources to empower CCEs to gain access to markets, reduce the pressure on environmental resources, and ensure conservation benefits are equitably distributed.

Reflecting our focus on communities as critical conservation partners, WWF works with more than 200 CCEs in over 50 countries across the globe - from cocoa farming in Bolivia to gorilla conservation in Uganda to bamboo harvesting in the Mekong Delta, When properly enabled, they can be integral in targeted efforts to protect some of the world's most biologically diverse landscapes, seascapes and riverbasins, making a vital contribution to WWF's global ambition for zero loss of habitats.

These businesses are engaged primarily in six key product types: timber, non-timber forest products, local food crops, fish and meat, handicrafts, and ecotourism.

• Community organizing – building the foundations for success by helping communities establish legal rights and access to decision-making structures
• Product design – helping communities develop sustainable products that can generate a long-term livelihood
• Operational capabilities – supporting the development of essentials including business planning, sales and marketing, and financial management 
• Environmental monitoring – ensuring that businesses contribute to conservation by helping to establish monitoring schemes and environmental standards 
• Investment – funding community enterprises directly or connecting them with other sources of potential funding
• Market access – helping communities ensure that their products are reaching the right customers in the right markets

Find out more about how to accelerate community enterprise which benefits nature and people in our Practitioners Guide.