What “Return on Investment” Really Means in Conservation & Development
As I reflect now, working in the private sector after doing my MBA, I see the ambition behind the phrase “return on investment” in conservation and development in a new light: it’s not just a grant-making label, but a discipline in linking financial, ecological, and social logics into a coherent value story. What follows is how I think about ROI in these fields now, what I learned in business school, what the evidence says, and how I try to build credible impact arguments in my current work. First, ROI in conservation and development must be treated as an integrated narrative, not a single formula. In the corporate world, ROI is about dollars in vs. dollars out; but when you apply that to, say, restoring a mangrove or improving immunization coverage, you immediately confront benefits that are diffuse, time-distributed, and uncertain. So the challenge is: how do you credibly trace a dollar you spend today to avoided losses, health gains, or better resilience tomorrow? That is th...