Our Vision & Mission
Terratai grows companies that help nature to recover and thrive.
We’re disrupting how to finance nature by leveraging catalytic philanthropy to de-risk and crowd-in private finance into companies that protect, restore and manage our most at-risk ecosystems.
Our strategy identifies high potential, early-stage ventures with the capacity to directly address the drivers of ecosystem and biodiversity loss, and provides them with a combination of access to finance, tailored, long-term venture building support, and deep expertise on nature-based solutions (NBS) – everything they need to allow them to scale up in order that they can attract onward investment.
How We Get There?
To protect and restore nature at scale and support the communities who rely on it, we need a transformational shift in how we value nature within our economies.
Actions that are designed to protect, sustainably manage, or restore ecosystems to address climate change and biodiversity loss – i.e. Nature Based Solutions (NBS) – offer the most impactful pathway to reduce emissions, and can also address the economic inequalities that underpin the drivers of ecosystem loss. However, estimates suggest that the current funding gap for conservation and ecosystem restoration is as high as US$824 billion per year (TNC, 2020), and this gap continues to widen year on year.
To bridge this gap we must attract more private finance into nature, and yet most impact investors struggle to deploy capital towards companies that can deliver NBS at scale.
Terratai works to address this missing middle – providing a blend of investment, technical support and expertise on nature to companies with the potential to create real, meaningful and systemic impact on the drivers of nature and biodiversity loss, and de-risking the engagement of institutional investors.
Our Values
Place based
We are laser focused on creating measurable positive impact in Asia’s most vulnerable marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
People centered
We believe that local knowledge and local leadership will create the most impactful and enduring solutions. Ensuring the equitable distribution of social and economic benefits is critical to our work.
Science driven
Our investment model is backed by cutting edge research and data, and we carefully measure and monitor our impact
Values first
We are honest, trustworthy and transparent and operate with integrity. We put relationships first. We believe the challenges our planet faces can only be addressed through collaboration and community
Why Nature-based Solutions?
Nature-based solutions (NBS) utilize the power of natural systems to support ecosystems, biodiversity, and human well-being to address critical societal challenges like climate change. By supporting investments into NBS, we have the opportunity to cost-effectively protect and restore nature, to address the economic inequalities that underpin the drivers of ecosystem loss, and to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Terratai supports companies that deliver a wide array of actions aimed at protecting, restoring, and sustainably managing critically important landscapes and seascapes in South-East Asia, focusing on Indonesia. By doing so they help safeguard nature and biodiversity, while tackling pressing issues such as food and water security, climate change, disaster risks, and public health.
Indigenous peoples and local communities have employed nature-based practices for millennia. We believe it is essential that these solutions remain people-centered, community-led, and grounded in traditional and local knowledge.
Protect
We support ventures that can demonstrate direct positive impact on ecosystem or biodiversity protection.
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- Ecosystem Conservation: Terratai supports companies that focus on protecting existing natural ecosystems, such as wetlands, grasslands, floodplains, urban forests, and mangroves. These efforts involve integrating protected areas into urban zoning schemes and implementing measures to prevent encroachment and degradation.
- Biodiversity Preservation: Terratai aims to enhance the protection of critical biodiversity areas, ensuring they are effectively managed. This includes supporting the development of ecological networks to promote wildlife movement and maintain genetic diversity
Manage
We support ventures that can demonstrate that their business model improve the sustainable management of nature and biodiversity.
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- Maintaining biodiversity, productivity, and regeneration capacity of forests while fulfilling ecological, economic, and social functions.
- Implementing practices that are socially just, ecologically sound, and economically viable, including: protecting, ecologically important forest areas, prohibiting forest conversions, respecting indigenous peoples’ right, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in forest operations.
- Creating economic incentives for forest conservation by developing markets for sustainable forest products, as demonstrated by Forestwise’s work with wild-harvested rainforest products in Borneo.
Restore
We support ventures that can demonstrate capacity to restore, rebuild or re-wild nature.
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- Habitat Rehabilitation: This includes reforestation, wetland restoration, and wildlife corridor re-establishment. These efforts aim to recreate natural ecosystems, enhance biodiversity, and restore critical ecological functions.
- Sustainable Resource Management: This involves implementing practices that allow responsible use of natural resources while supporting ecosystem recovery, such as agroforestry, sustainable agriculture, and community-based conservation efforts.