The Global Conservation Standard (GCS) is an innovative financial mechanism – It is a private sector financed system of payments for ecosystem services: companies buy conservation credits and the revenue generated is managed by a Costa Rican NGO to invest in sustainable development activities. One example is the investment of a German certified organic shrimp producer in Costa Rica buying conservation credits to restore mangroves. The organic shrimp are sold in Germany by certified organic retailers – for each 250g sold 0.15€ are channeled to the GCS Fund and used for conservation activities.