This publication provides initial guidance to countries on key enabling tools for attracting public and private sector investments in conservation and how to navigate the process. It builds on a series of recent ELC protected areas and biodiversity projects, prompted by emerging investor interest in the sustainability of their investments and responding to the growing funding gap between what is needed and what is available in traditional financial sources (grants, philanthropy, national budgets and loans) to effectively address the planet’s growing environmental crises – accelerating biodiversity loss, climate impacts affecting the Earth and society, and expanding land, marine and ecosystem degradation.