Diane Figueroa

Diane Figueroa is the Director for Innovative Finance, Asia-Pacific at Rare, where she co-develops and advances innovative financing mechanisms for conservation, climate resilience, and sustainable livelihoods. Her work on climate and ecosystem risk insurance includes the Weather Index-Based Parametric Insurance for Small-Scale Fishers in the Philippines, as well as insurance solutions for natural assets. She led the Philippines component of an ADB-funded four-country initiative on coral reef finance and insurance and has undertaken scoping work on coral reef insurance in Palau.

Diane also leads and supports outcome-based finance (OBF) initiatives, including Rare’s Small-Scale Fisheries Impact Bond in Indonesia, an OBF model for seagrass conservation in Thailand, and the development of a regional portfolio of outcome-based financing opportunities across Coral Triangle countries. A key focus of her work is scaling innovative finance models across geographies, with the fisher insurance model she helped pioneer in the Philippines now being replicated by Rare in Kenya, alongside the expansion of the Impact Bond approach to Maluku, North Maluku, and North Sulawesi.

In parallel, Diane supports investment-ready nature-based enterprises through Rare’s Blue Economy Investment initiative, helping enterprises strengthen their financial and investment readiness and access blended and catalytic capital. She works closely with governments, multilateral institutions, insurers, investors, scientists, and local communities to translate conservation priorities into financially viable and scalable solutions. Diane holds a Master of Sustainability from the University of Sydney, as well as graduate and undergraduate degrees in biology.