From left to right: Martin Harper, CEO of BirdLife International; Alicia Montalvo, Vice President for Cooperation at CAF; and Aurelio Ramos, Managing Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the National Audubon Society, sign the MoU formalizing their collaboration around the Flyways Nature Bond Framework during the Global Flyways Summit in Nairobi.
BirdLife, Audubon and CAF develop a science-based framework for migratory bird and ecosystem conservation across Latin America and the Caribbean
The Flyways Nature Bond Framework establishes science-based criteria to assess nature-based solutions and bird-friendly infrastructure across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Nairobi, Kenia, 11 de September 2026. BirdLife International, the National Audubon Society and CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean announced the completion of the Flyways Nature Bond Framework, a scientific and environmental methodology for assessing projects that aims to benefit migratory birds, their habitats and connected ecosystems across the Americas.
The Flyways Nature Bond Framework was developed under the umbrella of the Americas Flyways Initiative (AFI), a hemispheric alliance among CAF, BirdLife International and the National Audubon Society that brings together conservation science, finance, and sustainable development across Latin America and the Caribbean.
This Framework provides scientific and environmental eligibility criteria to guide CAF’s assessment and selection of projects for possible future financing, supporting AFI’s goal of helping to protect 10% of the populations of representative migratory bird species by 2050.
The Flyways Nature Bond Framework integrates bird science into project assessment across countries and sectors. It considers strategic locations for migratory birds, nature-based solutions, bird-friendly infrastructure, expected benefits for birds and habitats, environmental and social risk management, and monitoring and evaluation.
Across the flyways of the Americas, 289 species, nearly half of all migratory birds in the hemisphere, are in decline. In the United States and Canada alone, migratory breeding birds have dropped by almost 2.5 billion since 1970, and another 460 species are threatened in Latin America and the Caribbean. For birds that cross continents, a loss counted in one place often traces back to pressures thousands of miles away.
The Framework is designed to structure bonds that deliver benefits far beyond bird conservation. The same wetlands, forests, grasslands and coastal areas that sustain migratory birds also protect communities by reducing flood and storm risks, storing carbon, safeguarding water supplies, supporting local livelihoods, and strengthening climate resilience.
“The development of the Flyways Nature Bond Framework marks an important step in CAF’s efforts to integrate biodiversity considerations into development finance across Latin America and the Caribbean. The Framework creates a consistent basis for identifying projects that may benefit migratory birds, their habitats and ecosystems.”
Sergio Díaz-Granados, Executive President of CAF
“Flyways are not just migration routes for birds — they connect critical sites, landscapes, biodiversity and the people who depend on them across the hemisphere. As part of BirdLife’s Global Flyways Program, the Americas Flyways Initiative brings BirdLife’s strong science and our network of national partners across the Americas to contribute to the Flyways Nature Bond Framework — mainstreaming migratory bird and biodiversity conservation more systematically within project selection and evaluation.”
Martin Harper, CEO BirdLife International
“Birds show us where nature needs investment most. The Flyways Nature Bond Framework brings Audubon’s science into financing decisions, helping identify projects with the potential to strengthen the ecosystems birds and people share. This is conservation powered by birds and a promising new model for sustainable development across the Americas.”
Elizabeth Gray, CEO National Audubon Society
Project Eligibility Assessment Process
