Focal Area and Cross Cutting Strategies – Biodiversity and Sustainable Forest

Management

GEF Expanded Constituency Workshop

March 22 – 24, 2011

Kyiv, Ukraine

Biodiversity

Goal: the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and the maintenance of ecosystem goods and services

Convention on Biological Diversity

GEF Achievements in Biodiversity

• $ 3.1 billion invested, $8.3 billion in cofinancingto support more than 1,000 projects in 155 countries

• $1.89 billion invested in the creation and management of protected areas• Catalyzed the achievement of the target of 10% of the world’s terrestrial areas under

protection: 2,302 protected areas spanning 634 million hectares, 700 globally threatened species, 30 billion tons of stored carbon

• 40 conservation trust funds supported with $300 million• Over 265 million hectares of productive landscapes and seascapes became

biodiversity-friendly• Largest financier of forests: $1.5 billion supplemented by more than $4.5 billion in

cofinancing; more than 300 projects focusing on forest conservation and management• Pioneer investor in payments for ecosystem services schemes• Supported National Biosafety Frameworks in 123 countries• Enabled participation by civil society through the GEF Small Grants Program and the

Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund

5 Biodiversity Strategy Objectives1) improve the sustainability of protected area systems

• Improve Sustainable Financing of Protected Area Systems:• Expand Marine and Terrestrial Ecosystem Representation:• Expand Threatened Species Representation: • Improve Management Effectiveness of Existing Protected

2) mainstream biodiversity conservation and sustainable use into production landscapes/ seascapes and sectors

• Strengthen Policy and Regulatory Frameworks:• Implement Invasive Alien Species Management Frameworks:• Produce Biodiversity-friendly Goods and Services:

3) build capacity to implement the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety• Single-country projects:• Regional or sub-regional projects:• Thematic projects:

4) build capacity on access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing• capacity building of governments for meeting their obligations under Article 15 of the CBD• building capacity within key stakeholder groups

5) integrate CBD obligations into national planning processes through enabling activities

• Enabling activity support could be provided for revising NBSAPs in line with the CBD’s new strategic plan

• implementation of guidance related to the Clearing House

Responds to Key Drivers of Biodiversity Loss GEF-5 Strategy Objectives Drivers of Biodiversity Loss

Habitat

Change Over- exploitation

Invasive species

Underlying/indirect driver: Policy and legal framework, institutions and governance

1) Sustainable protected area systems

√ √

2) Mainstreaming biodiversity

√ √ √

3) Biosafety √ √ 4) Access and Benefit sharing √ 5) Enabling activities √ √

Biodiversity Portfolio Monitoring

Goal: Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and the maintenance of ecosystem goods and services.Impacts: Biodiversity conserved and habitat maintained in national protected area systems.Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity integrated into production landscapes and seascapes.Indicators: • Intact vegetative cover and degree of fragmentation in national protected area systems measured in hectares as recorded by remote sensing.• Intact vegetative cover and degree of fragmentation in production landscapes measured in hectares as recorded by remote sensing.• Coastal zone habitat (coral reef, mangroves, etc) intact in marine protected areas and productive seascapes measured in hectares

The GEF-5 SFM/REDD-plus Program

Sustainable forest management as a dynamic and evolving concept aims to maintain and enhance the economic, social and environmental value of all types of forests, for the benefit of present and future generations.

Why are forests important for GEF?

Forests deliver multiple environmental and social benefits:

• CLIMATE CHANGE : Slowing tropical deforestation is bound to play a much larger role in mitigating climate change.

• BIODIVERSITY: Forests harbor over 60% of all terrestrial plant and animal species.

• LAND DEGRADATION: Forests providelivelihoods and vital environmental services to hundreds of millions of people.

Prior GEF investments in forests

• The GEF has been funding forest projects since its inception in 1991.

• Forests/Forest management is not a focal area. Until 2006, GEF support for forests was therefore mainly provided through the biodiversity and land degradation focal areas.

• In June 2007, the GEF-4 SFM Program was created, better know as the Tropical Forest Account (TFA). The TFA reserved funds from the Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Land Degradation focal areas for SFM operations in the three major tropical forest blocks (Amazonia, Congo Basin, New Guinea/Borneo).

• In total, > $400 million were invested in forests in GEF-4.

BD$322

m

CC$59 m

LD$46 m

75%

20%

5%

Single Focal Area

MFA (2 Focal Areas)

MFA (3 Focal Areas)

Under GEF-4, investments in forests were mainly single-focal area biodiversity conservation projects, thus not emphasizing the potential multiple benefits.

Type of forest projects under GEF-4

The GEF-5 SFM/REDD-plus Program

• The goal for GEF-5 investment in SFM is to achieve multiple environmental benefits from improved management of all types of forests.

Objective 1: Reduce pressure on forest resources and generate sustainable flows of forest ecosystem services

Potential projects: • Forest policy, legal and regulatory framework (re)formulation;• Forest law enforcement and government (FLEG);• Sustainable harvesting technologies for timber and non-timber

products, forest function and management planning;• Forest certification and verification of timber supply chains;• Integrated forest fire management;• Conflict resolution approaches (e.g. disputed forest tenure and use);• Capacity building/Piloting of Payment for Ecosystem Services,

economic valuation tools.• Industrial, agricultural and domestic technologies reducing the

pressure on forest (energy efficiency, fuel substitution);• Increasing ecological connectivity at landscape level;• Community and small-holder forestry

Objective 2: Strengthen the enabling environment to reduce GHG emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+)

Potential projects:

• Competition for land use and land-use changes (e.g. land use potential and related planning activities; trade-off analysis);

• Building of technical and institutional capacities to monitor and reduce GHG emissions from deforestation and forest degradation;

• Testing and adopting approaches that allow for the generation of revenues from the carbon market.