GEF Strategic Priorities Biodiversity

1. GEF Strategic Priorities Biodiversity John Hough RBEC Environment & Energy Practice Workshop Almaty, Kazakhstan. 6-9 October 2004

2. Why the Strategic Priorities? GEF 4 year funding cycles Replenishment negotiations Overall Performance Study - OPS 2 End of GEF 3 (2002) More than $1 billion spent on Biodiversity Impact Unknown GEF/C.21/Inf.11 Strategic Business Planning: Directions and Targets. (GEF Council. May 14-16, 2003.)

3. Not Addressing Root Causes of Biodiversity Loss 4 (a) Narrowly focused individual site-specific projects have largely failed to address root causes such as economic and social policies and lack of political will within the development agenda. Project links to social and political aspects of sustainable development have been poorly developed and mainstreamed.

4. Weak Sectoral Linkages 4 (b) Weak links to other sectors of the economy that influence project success. The portfolio is overly structured towards individual projects with a tendency for biodiversity to be stand alone, resulting in poor mainstreaming within other sectors.

5. Incompatible Funding Patterns 4 (c) Funding patterns that are incompatible with the absorptive capacity of project areas or implementing or partner institutions and long term needs.

6. Little Project Sustainability 4 (d) Only about 10% of projects have substantially addressed sustainability. … it is difficult to establish whether or not results and institutional gains continued after project completion

7. Little Private Sector Involvement 4 (f) Failure to fully realize and disseminate innovative financing mechanisms and to strengthen private sector involvement in biodiversity.

8. Overall Strategic Approach for the Biodiversity Focal Area in FY04-06 5 (a) Place greater emphasis on sustainability of results and the potential for replication;

9. 5 (b) Move beyond the current projects-based emphasis … to more strategic approaches that systematically targets [sic] country enabling environments to address biodiversity conservation over the long term

10. 5 (d) Engage with the private sector more effectively

11. 5 (g) Continue to strengthen IA’s role as brokers in the development agenda within the context of country-driven Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), Country Assistance Strategies (CASs) and other such tools;

12. 5 (h) Improve dissemination of tools, lessons learned and best practices among broader audiences.

13. 6 (b) Better placing individual projects within the context of strengthening country or regional natural resource policy frameworks, management programs and financing strategies;

14. Four major themes run across the above priorities: (a) Capacity building (b) Participation of government agencies beyond “green” agencies (c) Enhancing and sustaining participation of local and indigenous communities and the private sector (d) Enhancing linkages with other focal areas of the GEF

15. 1994-2002 : GEF1 and GEF 2Operational Programmes OP1: Arid and semi-arid ecosystems OP2: Coastal, freshwater & marine ecosystems OP3: Forest ecosystems OP4: Mountain ecosystems OP13: Agro-ecosystems

16. Strategic Approach for GEF3 (2003-2006) • Sustainability of results and potential for replication • Longer term strategic approaches to raise capacity / enabling environments • Mainstreaming in other sectors • Engaging the private sector • Sustainable use and benefit sharing • Integration into the development agenda • Dissemination of tools, lessons, best practises

17. Biodiversity Programming GEF 3:Strategic Priorities • BD1. Catalyzing the Sustainability of Protected Area Systems ($260m) • BD2. Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Production Systems ($207m) • BD3. Capacity Building for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety ($45m) • BD4. Generation and Dissemination of Best Practises for addressing current and emerging issues in Biodiversity ($40m)

18. BD1. Catalyzing the Sustainability of Protected Areas ($260m) • Catalyze the • sustainable • expansion, • consolidation, and • rationalization • of protected area systems

19. BD1. Targets & Indicators

20. BD1: Sustainability of Protected Area Systems Examples: • Demonstration and implementation of innovative financial mechanisms • Legal, policy & regulatory changes • Institutional development • Community-indigenous initiatives • Removing barriers to public-private partnerships

21. BD2. Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Production Systems ($207m) • Facilitate the mainstreaming of biodiversity within production systems (systemic and institutional capacities) • Developing market incentive measures • Demonstration (not replication)

22. Increasing focus on barriers • Increasing focus on production system/sector-wide barriers as opposed to site based threats • Consider what are the barriers that prevent sustainable use/maintenance of biodiversity in production landscapes or sectors? • Increased focus on systemic and institutional capacity

23. Sector vs Site • BD2 allows us to focus on a select number of root causes to biodiversity loss and hence we can have projects focusing just on one sector without securing specific site biodiversity benefits • Focus on landscape (spatial) or sector / industry / business • Engagement of key sectors: NRM based (Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries), others (Tourism, Infrastructure, Oil, Gas etc.) • Partnerships with range of actors: government, industry, SMEs, local communities etc. • Enabling environment (legislation, policy, barrier removal, institutional structures). • Focus on production, supply chain reform and markets, whilst retaining linkages to habitats. • Demonstration value

24. Engagement with Business • Partner with production businesses directly to build their capacity to change production systems/ service delivery • Partner with large companies who purchase significant shares of global production to influence supply and production systems • Partner with financial institutions to influence lending to specific types of businesses • Develop market incentives (certification) to motivate changes in the market place and production • A “business” can be a single family farm • Business is the bottom line

25. BD2. Targets & Indicators

26. Some examples of BD2 projects • Bulgaria: Rhodope Mountains • Mainstreaming BD across multiple use landscape, working with agriculture, forestry, tourism, water management etc. Promoting forest certification, organic farming, ecotourism. Increasing sectoral coordination at national level, promoting private sector involvement. • Mongolia: Altai-Sayan • Pastoralism forms mainstay of economy (about 70% of GDP). Project advances the integration of BD in sector policies and land-use planning at national, provincial and district levels. Works with local herder communities at local level to improve herd management and mobility with ecosystem benefits.

27. Some examples of BD2 projects • Middle East/Africa: Soaring Birds • Focus on threats to soaring birds across a flyway, especially at “bottleneck sites” and efforts to make production activities “bird-friendly” by influencing development activities, especially siting of infrastructure, as well as agriculture, water, tourism etc. • West Africa: Endemic Livestock • Endemic ruminant livestock embodies resistance to trypanosomosis, resilience and hardiness. Agricultural policies favour crop production over livestock resulting in loss of natural habitat, and favour exogenous over indigenous breeds. Project addresses barriers including policies, subsidies, poorly developed markets, and limited knowledge.

28. Private Sector Projects • Certified Niche Shade Coffee (LAC) • Mainstream Shade Cocoa (Ghana) • Forest certification – tropical (Vietnam) and temperate (Lithuania) • Responsible Tourism (Chile, Malaysia) • Ecotourism (Nepal) • Organic agricultural products (Croatia)

29. BD3. Capacity Building for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety ($45m) • Development of systemic and institutional capacities for Biosafety

30. BD3. Targets & Indicators

31. BD4. Generation and Dissemination of Best Practises for addressing current and emerging issues in Biodiversity ($40m) • Improve analysis, synthesis and dissemination • Scientific and technical cooperation – knowledge networks • Demonstration projects generating synergies between focal areas • Vulnerability and adaptation to global change • Ecosystem approaches • Identified themes

32. BD4. Targets & Indicators