Impact Investors can help to Protect Valuable Environments

Impact investing can help environmentalists to protect vulnerable and valuable land from being destroyed, according to Alternative Asset Analysis (AAA).

Environmental groups have always relied quite heavily on philanthropists and private sector sponsors to protect land. In a number of incidents, groups have paid millions of dollars for areas of land, simply to protect them as habitats for species. The Nature Conservancy is one such group that believes this is a good approach to protecting wildlife and precious eco-systems.

Recently, the Nature Conservancy's Mark Tercek claimed that the money is drying up and that impact investing could provide the solution. AAA, an alternative investment advocacy group based in Boston, agrees. The organisation's analysis partner, Anthony Johnson, said: "There is a shortage of funds for these kinds of projects these days and it is now necessary to try to attract investors into this kind of investment."

AAA claims that a large number of investors are now looking to align their investments with social and environmental projects that will do good over the long run. Some projects are far from lucrative, but will at least protect money from being lost in the volatile stock markets.

Investing in projects like the sustainable forestry project being managed by Greenwood Management in Brazil is a good option for those who are environmentally conscious but cannot afford for their investment to not deliver returns. Those who invest in timber or in forestry projects tend to see better returns than those investing in stock and bonds, according to figures taken over several years.

Investing in timberland also has other benefits. From a social perspective, it helps to encourage sustainability which can help local communities to safeguard the forestry industry for generations to come. From an environmental perspective, managed forests provide timber that can be used instead of timber from vulnerable forests.

About Alternative Asset Analysis:

The remit of Alternative Asset Analysis is to analyse and provide news on the global performance of a wide range of alternative asset classes including, but not restricted to, commodities, real estate, forestry, foreign exchange, hedge funds, private equity and venture capital.