Reimagining Nature Finance at Highgrove
Reflections from the Circle
By Mere Takoko, CBA Ambassador, and Justin Adams, CBA Reimagining Nature Finance Fellow
As part of the first Harmony Summit at Highgrove House in early July, the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance facilitated two of the four intimate dialogue circles. One of these focused on Reimagining Nature Finance. Twenty people gathered in the gardens, bringing together Indigenous leaders, finance practitioners, scientists and policy thinkers to sit with one powerful question:
What if finance were truly in service of life?
The meeting started with the Pacific Whale Fund as an example to open the conversation. CBA Ambassador Mere Takoko, who co-founded the Fund with economist Ralph Chami, described how it brings together Indigenous governance, science and finance in service of the ocean. She spoke of whales not as biodiversity or carbon assets, but as ancestors, and of the need for finance to honour that sacredness.
Ralph shared how science can make nature’s value visible to markets, not to commodify it, but to redirect private capital at the scale needed for protection. His decades in global finance have shown him that shifting market flows can be a powerful lever, but only if the work remains grounded in ecological truth.
From there, the conversation widened. Indigenous leaders from the Caribbean, Aotearoa, the Amazon, Hawai‘i and Colombia, alongside finance experts, conservationists and system innovators, shared experiences of protecting land and water. Principles voiced again and again included reducing intermediaries between funders and communities, recognising cultural and spiritual value alongside ecological and financial measures, ensuring local governance of funds, and supporting livelihoods with dignity.
As the discussion deepened, a central tension came into view. Should we work to reform the current financial system, adjusting incentives and redirecting flows? Or should we reimagine finance entirely, drawing on values and cosmologies that have sustained life for millennia? Some argued that after decades of incremental change, transformation will only come through new models. Others saw urgent opportunities to work within existing systems while building the bridges to what comes next.
Rather than seeking a resolution, the group recognised the need to walk both paths, improving what exists while also prototyping finance that truly reflects relational values and ecological rhythms.
The session closed with a shared sense of possibility and responsibility. In the words of one participant, the Earth already knows how to heal. Our task is to listen more deeply and learn how to get out of her way.
More information
The Harmony Summit was organised by The King’s Foundation in partnership with the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and the Earth Elders. It brought together indigenous leaders, practitioners and policy makers with the aim of listening and learning from each other, and to explore how Harmony in practice can be embedded across a range of sectors, landscapes and geographies. Read more
Justin Adams is the CBA Sir Evelyn de Rothschild Fellow for Reimagining Nature Finance and Inclusive Capitalism. Read more
Photo: Courtney Louise Photography / The King’s Foundation
