Background:

Biological resources are vital to humanity's economic and social development. As a result, there is a growing recognition that biological diversity is a global asset of tremendous value to present and future generations. At the same time, the threat to species and ecosystems has never been so great as it is today. Species extinction caused by human activities continues at an alarming rate.

In response, an international legal instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity was prepared and 168 countries ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Nevertheless, available evidence and decisions adopted by the Parties to the CBD indicate that the current levels of investment in biodiversity management are inadequate to achieve the 20 Aichi Targets defined in the CBD’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. A preliminary assessment recently conducted under the auspices of the High Level Panel on Global Assessment of Resources for Implementing the CBD Strategic Plan for 2011-2020, estimated that the global investment required amounts to between 130 and 440 billion US$ annually.

In this context, UNDP launched The Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) in 2012. BIOFIN is a global partnership, currently available in 30 countries addressing the biodiversity finance challenge in a comprehensive manner. In a wider context, BIOFIN provides countries with a model to develop investment plans for the primary biodiversity-related SDG goals (14 and 15). Explicitly, BIOFIN supports countries to achieve the 20 Aichi Targets to substantially increase the mobilisation of financial resources by 2020. 

Project budget: USD 470 000

Goal:

BIOFIN aims at providing support for countries to initiate a national policy dialogue and transformational process through a stepwise customizable approach to identify and mobilise the resources and policies required to bridge the gap between the current approach to financing biodiversity and that needed to successfully implement national biodiversity plans and achieve national biodiversity targets.

Components:

Main components of BIOFIN are:

• Component 1: Integrate biodiversity and ecosystem services in sectoral and development policy, planning and budgeting;
• Component 2:  Assess the financing and governance needs for the management and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services;
• Component 3: Identify, combine and sequence different funding sources to meet biodiversity financing needs, and develop resource mobilization plan;
• Component 4: Pilot test selected options included in the resource mobilization plan. 

Financed by:

BIOFIN is managed by the UNDP Ecosystems and Biodiversity Programme and supported by the European Union and the Governments of Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Flanders. The Global Environment Facility is a further partner financing parallel in-country projects. As of January 2015, BIOFIN’s total budget is USD 28 million. BIOFIN-Kyrgyzstan is funded by the Government of Switzerland through Federal Ministry of Environment. 

Donors: Government of Switzerland

Latest progress update:

The global BIOFIN initiative brought together 31 countries involved in the development and piloting of the BIOFIN methodology.

This methodology allows for the countries to measure their current expenditures to biodiversity, evaluate their financial needs in mid-term perspective and to define the most appropriate financial decisions to fill the gaps in biodiversity financing at national level. This BIOFIN methodology includes the following main stages:

• Institutional frameworks and policies review to finance biodiversity: analysis of policy and institutional architecture of financing biodiversity and available financial decisions.
• Review of expenditures to biodiversity: analysis of public and private expenses directed to biodiversity.
• Assessment of needs in financial resources to biodiversity: assess investments needed to implement national plans to preserve biodiversity and to achieve national goals and results in the sphere of biodiversity.
• Plans to finance biodiversity: analysis of available current options and expansion of future investments (public, private, national, international, traditional and innovative) in biodiversity management.
• Introduction of financial decisions: support to implement strategic recommendations  drafted by BIOFIN, such as improvement or creation of financial mechanisms and integration of financial decisions into the cycles of national planning process.

The Review of Political and Institutional Frameworks for Environmental Finance with a Focus on Biodiversity and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Kyrgyz Republic is the result of work of the national BIOFIN team in the frames of the first stage of the Project. This Review is not limited by the problems of biodiversity preservation but goes beyond to cover wider environmental aspects and adaptation to climate change.