Closing the budget gap through biodiversity financing

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) recently published the BIOFIN Workbook 2024: Financing Nature, which provides detailed guidance on designing and implementing national Biodiversity Finance Plans (BFP).

BFPs have formed a coalition of actors to address biodiversity financing in the hope of narrowing the massive funding gap for biodiversity.

The publication highlighted important results, such as a budget increase of up to $86 million for protected areas in the case of the Philippines.

He touched on the enactment of the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (E-NIPAS) Act, which increased the number of Statutory Protected Areas from 13 to 107, thus securing public sector funding for the management of these protected areas.

BIOFIN Philippines

In the Philippines, BIOFIN, which stands for Biodiversity Financing, started in 2014. UNDP is implementing BIOFIN together with the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Finance (DoF).

Within the scope of the project, the financial needs assessment of the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP) was updated and the financial needs for its implementation until 2030 were announced.

Currently, the Philippines is implementing various financing solutions involving national institutions, local governments, private sector, non-governmental organizations, and citizens to mobilize resources for PBSAP.

PBSAP funding gap

The biodiversity financing gap in the Philippines was identified as early as 2015 through PBSAP 2015-2028, which implemented measures to preserve and protect the country’s rich biodiversity.

Considered one of the 17 mega-diverse countries in the world with 228 recognized key biodiversity areas, the Philippines is home to 855 globally significant species of flora and fauna.

Unfortunately, the Philippines is also one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots due to rapid biodiversity loss caused by habitat loss due to deforestation, forest degradation, and conversion of forest lands to other uses.

Overharvesting of natural resources is also a major threat to Philippine biodiversity; There are also invasive species that outcompete native species in terms of resources and replace or displace them in the process; illegal wildlife trade and wildlife smuggling; pollution, climate change and destructive fishing and farming activities.

These, combined with underlying factors such as population growth, poverty, urbanization, policy failures, trade, and globalization that put pressure on the already fragile ecosystem, are driving biodiversity loss in the Philippines.

protected area management

The introduction of protected area management, along with the introduction of environmental laws that protect and preserve the country’s biodiversity, was the government’s response to the alarming loss of biodiversity.

Important biodiversity areas have been identified and set aside through Republic Act No. 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992 and mainly authored by former Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Ramirez-Sato, RA 11038 or the Expanded NIPAS Act of 2018. for protection.

There are 240 protected areas in the Philippines, but only 13 of them are legally protected areas.

With the enactment of the ENIPAS Act, the number of legal Protected Areas was increased to 107, the budget allocated to the protection of biodiversity was significantly increased, and the protected area management system in the Philippines was further strengthened.

However, given the mammoth task of managing more than five million hectares (covering the total area of ​​all protected areas), funding for the protection of these areas, including the flora and fauna that thrives in them, is still inadequate.

Tamaraw conservation advocate

The legislator from Occidental Mindoro, a key biodiversity region and home to one of the rarest water buffalos in the world, was named a UNDP BIOFIN Champion of Change along with three other global leaders for his legislative advocacy for biodiversity conservation.

The four global leaders were each cited for the roles they played in increasing the budget for biodiversity financing and therefore narrowing the biodiversity financing gap in their respective countries.

Their names and individual achievements were mentioned in the UNDP BIOFIN Workbook 2024; In this book it was stated that certain individuals can play a catalyzing role in policy processes and act as true agents of change.

Sato was cited for his role in the protection and conservation of the Philippine tamaraw, the world’s rarest buffalo, which can only be found in the interior of Mindoro Island, which is also a Protected Area Iglit-Baco Mountains Natural Park (MIBNP).

Sato was also known for introducing a mining ban in his state while serving as governor. He also advocated for the protection and preservation of Mindoro’s natural treasures through various environmental programs.

UNDP Champions of Change

“CHAMPIONS of change are often senior government officials or visionary entrepreneurs, but they can also be influential media personalities, civil society leaders or scientists. Decision-makers such as these advocates of change should be included in the BIOFIN Process from an early stage. UNDP BIOFIN said only decision-makers can push for the draft law.

In addition to facilitating passage of the E-NIPAS Act, which resulted in increased funding for protected areas estimated at $1 million to $10 million annually, Sato also promoted Tamaraw conservation through congressional forums as well as field-level work on his project. Occidental Mindoro province.

Other Champions of Change is Doris Ríos Ríos, vice president of the National Indigenous Board of Costa Rica (MNICR), a Cabécar community leader from the Chinese Kichá Indigenous region. In 2023, she was awarded the International Women of Courage Award by the United States Department of State; Sergio Graf Montero, former Minister of the Environment of the Mexican State of Jalisco, emerged as a visionary; Mutumboi Mundia is a key figure in Zambia’s biodiversity finance landscape and capital markets development, having served as Director of Market Supervision and Development at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and leading transformative initiatives to develop Zambia’s capital markets.

Key achievements of BIOFIN Ph

Asked to give an opinion on the importance of finding other sources of financing for Protected Areas, OIC Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) Deputy Director Armida P. Andres talked about the BIOFIN project to close the huge budget gap in the management of protected areas. He said plans were being developed through BIOFIN to identify ways to access funding to help narrow the gap.

“Our BIOFIN Project, led by Anabelle Plantilla, has helped many PAs develop their financial plans so they can identify various ways to finance their operations,” Andres told BusinessMirror via text message. Plantilla is the coordinator of BIOFIN Philippines.

On its website, BIOFIN Philippines announced additional funding for the 107 Protected Areas designated by law, as well as the GCash Forest app and the Corporate Social Responsibility program of partners such as the World Wild Fund (WWF); £1.6 million through the Together for Tamaraws Crowdfunding Campaign for conservation communities affected by the Covid-19 pandemic; Allocation of US$60,000 in the Provincial Development and Physical Framework Plan 2020-2022 for the proposed priority biodiversity programs and activities of Negros Oriental and P20 million from 2020-2022 for the Southwest Negros Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) of Negros Occidental province.

public sector finance

In an interview with BusinessMirror on November 13, Plantilla said that the gains from the 107 Protected Areas legislation are BIOFIN Philippines’ biggest gain.

“This is a public sector allocation for protected areas,” he said. While he said there was an increase in the budget, he said that the financing gap was still large.

Plantilla said that providing financial support from local governments, such as in the case of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental, is also a big benefit. BIOFIN Philippines, together with the Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation headquartered in Bacolod, identified five financial solutions with PHILBIO and the Provincial Government. He said he hopes that the budget for biodiversity conservation in the two provinces will increase every year with the preparation of a biodiversity conservation plan.

Working with local governments and the private sector

“SECOND, state governments allocated funds to National Government programmes. Like Cuernos de Negros, which aligns with DENR Provincial Offices. “Alignment maximizes resources to achieve a common goal,” he said.

He said that another victory was the provision of funding support from the private sector.

Negros was identified as one of the beneficiaries of a foreign-funded project, citing the Philippine-Canadian Partnership for Nature-Based Solutions through Forest Foundation Philippines, which sits on the BIOFIN Philippines Board of Directors.

The funding, in the form of grants, secures £35 million for a three- to five-year project with non-governmental organizations as implementing partners.

Another goal, he said, is to work with mining companies and government regulators to allocate funds for biodiversity protection and conservation through social development management programs (SDMP).

Plantilla said pooling all additional funds for biodiversity protection and conservation, no matter how small, ultimately helps narrow the budget deficit, thus helping make the PBSAP 2015-2028 goals or objectives achievable.