Brazil haverst biodiversity achievements (12/5/2011)

The World Bank and Biodiversity

Challenge

Developing country partners are increasingly aware that biodiversity underpins every aspect of human life and is critical for sustainable development, but investments for biodiversity are not a priority for most countries. In order to address this challenge, biodiversity concerns need to be mainstreamed in development programs and projects including infrastructure and agriculture. There is also a need to demonstrate that biodiversity conservation and ecosystem-based approaches can spur and sustain development, while at the same time address climate change challenges.

Approach

World Bank projects directly support biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in a range of natural habitats, including coral reefs, mountains, tropical evergreen and monsoon forests, savannas, grasslands, unique dry lands, limestone, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. Many are in centers of recognized global importance for biodiversity: mega-diversity hot spots, remaining wilderness areas, the Global 200 eco-regions described by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and the areas designated as Endemic Bird Areas and as Important Bird Areas. Many projects are in countries and regions where communities are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. By promoting investments in these locations, the World Bank is helping client countries to meet the 2015-2020 targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity and to prepare for the impacts of climate change. The World Bank’s new Environment Strategy aims at “Greening Development” by, among other things, leveraging biodiversity to reduce vulnerability and alleviate poverty at the rural frontier.

Results

Some of the results achieved with World Bank support, based on financing from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) or the International Development Association, or through trust funds managed by the World Bank, are as follows:

• Establishing protected area systems. The first phase of the Amazon Region Protected Areas project in Brazil helped double the area of the Brazilian Amazon under strict protection – from 12 million hectares at the start of the project to about 25 million hectares at the end of the project in 2008. An additional 10 million hectares were set aside in sustainable use areas to conserve biodiversity and provide improved livelihoods for traditional forest dwellers.
• Engaging indigenous peoples in co-management. Over 109 projects of the Bank’s biodiversity portfolio have supported or are supporting indigenous peoples programs and needs, including over 15 percent of the Bank’s portfolio funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Bolivia Sustainability of Protected Areas Project is a good example of a co-management model. The Bank/GEF has provided financing to support the operating costs of Kaa-Iya National Park, the largest protected area in Bolivia (3.5 million hectares).
• Securing sustainable landscape management: Due to its remote and rugged terrain, the Virachey National Park (322,000 hectares) that straddles the administrative boundaries of Ratanakiri and Stung Treng Provinces in Cambodia anchors one of the least disturbed forest blocks in the region. A blended IDA/GEF operation for US$4.7 million developed proactive measures to preempt unsustainable exploitation and degradation of the globally significant biodiversity there. Forty-two separate training events were organized for more than 1,100 trainees, including many residents of the park’s 21 surrounding villages. It helped reduce the incidence of illegal activities in the park by more than 30 percent by the end of the project in 2005.

Bank Contribution

The World Bank is a key funder of biodiversity initiatives, providing support to 624 projects in over 122 countries over the last 20 years. This biodiversity portfolio represents almost US$2 billion in biodiversity investments, complemented by an additional US$1.6 billion from World Bank managed trust funds. Of this funding, US$1.4 billion was from GEF, US$1 billion from IBRD, and approximately US$930 million from IDA.

Partners

Global and regional partnerships are playing an important role in promoting biodiversity conservation. Some of the key partnerships are as follows:

• The Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund has brought together the governments of France and Japan together with the MacArthur Foundation and Conservation International, and awarded grants to over 1,580 civil society organizations to reduce threats to 19 critically endangered hotspots.
• The Global Tiger Initiative launched in 2008 has helped strengthen political ownership by the 13 Tiger countries of their endangered tiger populations and wildlife authorities.
• The Save our Species program seeks to leverage private sector engagement for funding for threatened species.
• The International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime is a collaborative effort of five inter-governmental organizations to bring coordinated support to national wildlife law enforcement agencies and sub-regional networks.

Toward the Future

The Bank’s upcoming Environment Strategy 2011 provides an opportunity to promote creative approaches to conserve biodiversity for a sustainable future, by:

• Providing intellectual leadership and convening services, through (i) designing economic indicators and technical protocols; (ii) assisting countries to unleash financial flows from biodiversity; and (iii) piloting the inclusion of protected areas in land use planning.
• Providing continued and innovative financial flows, through (i) strengthening partnership with the GEF; (ii) piloting payments for hydrological services; and (iii) innovating in the area of economic and financial incentives.
• Leveraging safeguard instruments to enhance environmental outcomes, by (i) capturing the value of biodiversity services in planning tools; and (ii) strengthen partnerships with the private sector.