Why trust is the real currency of nature finance with Native Squared

In this episode of Shaken Not Burned, Felicia Jackson speaks with Rob Cobbold, founder of Native Squared, about what credible nature finance looks like when you start from land, communities, and long-term stewardship — rather than carbon metrics and abstract credits.

They unpack why many current funding models for nature protection struggle to deliver durable outcomes, how carbon-first and uplift-based approaches can exclude the ecosystems most worth protecting, and why intact nature often fails to qualify for finance at all.

Trust — between funders, communities, companies, and ecosystems — is the missing infrastructure in nature finance: benefit-sharing, governance, and time horizons matter more than ever. Importantly, Indigenous and local communities are among the most effective stewards of ecosystems.

The conversation reaches a surreal but revealing point when Rob explains that, in some cases, the most legally robust way to protect a forest may be to buy the logging rights – and then not log it. It seems that it’s easier to use the same legal tools designed for extraction for protection, compared to the systems supposedly built for conservation. It’s hard to think of a clearer illustration of how upside-down current models have become.

Rather than offering a new “solution,” this episode focuses on judgment: how different models define value, who benefits, where responsibility sits, and how to distinguish genuine stewardship from compensation dressed up as impact.

Nature is foundational to climate, economies and human wellbeing, not an optional add-on: biodiversity loss and climate change are deeply interconnected and mutually reinforcing.

Unfortunately, carbon-centric funding models can undermine nature protection rather than support it. Damaging behaviour can be perversely rewarded because it shows that action is needed: if a forest is being logged, the current system can ensure that funds are directed to that area to avoid logging. At the same time, pristine forests are not legally entitled to funding because it is assumed they don't need protection. Intact rainforests, coral reefs, mangroves – essentially, those ecosystems doing well – often can’t access finance because they aren’t “additional” enough.

Outcomes matter more than processes, even when certainty is impossible.

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