What does it look like when a small island nation sets out to build a national system for biodiversity finance? On 6 May 2026, a delegation from the Republic of Vanuatu arrived in Ecuador to find out. Over the course of eight days — spanning Quito and the Galápagos Islands — the delegation is engaging with institutions, communities, scientists, and private operators who have spent decades building and refining one of the most comprehensive conservation finance models in the world.

The visit was organised by the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership facilitators in Ecuador and Vanuatu, and underscores the importance of collaborative platforms in advancing national biodiversity strategies and action plans.

The mission centres on technical exchanges with Ecuador’s environmental authorities, exploring instruments such as conservation trust funds, payments for ecosystem services, and debt-for-nature swaps. The Galápagos segment of the visit offers firsthand insight into how earmarked funding, public–private partnerships, and green levies support one of the world’s most iconic ecosystems.

Sessions cover three of Ecuador’s flagship mechanisms in depth: the Green Levy, a visitor entry fee that directs revenues into conservation; the Galápagos Life Fund (GLF), which channels debt-swap proceeds into biodiversity programmes; and the Invasive Species Fund (FEIG), a trust fund model focused on one of the archipelago’s most pressing ecological threats. Across each mechanism, the delegation is exploring governance arrangements, stakeholder roles, and the policy frameworks that make them function.

The exchange is deliberately structured to go beyond institutional presentations. Field visits take the delegation to active conservation and restoration sites, community-managed farms, and fisheries cooperatives — offering a ground-level perspective on how the Galápagos model works in practice.

Dialogues with Fundación Jocotoco, Fundación ECOS, the fishing cooperative COPAHISA, and tourism operators bring to life how different sectors engage with and benefit from these financing mechanisms. The Charles Darwin Foundation is sharing its experience using FEIG resources to combat invasive species, while local tourism associations reflect on the private sector’s role in conservation governance.

The exchange is set to conclude with a joint reflection session in which the delegation will draw together lessons from the Galápagos experience to inform the design of Vanuatu’s own green levy. Both nations are looking to sustain the collaboration as Vanuatu advances its biodiversity financing roadmap.

The Government of Vanuatu has extended its sincere gratitude to Milton Ordoñez, Under Secretary of Natural Heritage, and Andres Factos, National Focal Point for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), whose warm hospitality and expert guidance have been central to the exchange.

This visit marks a promising step in South–South cooperation — and a demonstration of how the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership can connect countries not only with technical and financial support, but with one another.