UNDP's
work on biodiversity:
project
showcase
The UNDP biodiversity sub-practice has formed partnerships with a number of key players working in the nexus between development and biodiversity conservation. These include:
>> BirdLife International
>> The Earth Institute, Columbia University
>> The Conservation Finance Alliance
>> Conservation International
>> The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
>> Ecoagriculture / Monterrey Bridge
>> The Global Biodiversity Forum
>> The Group of Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries
>> IUCN – The World Conservation Union
>> The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
>> The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
>> The Millennium Project
>> The Nature Conservancy
>> SwissRe / Harvard University
>> UNEP-WCMC
>> UNESCO
>> The United Nations Foundation
>> The Wildlife Conservation Society
>> World Resources Institute
>> The World Wildlife Fund
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of independent national non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from more than 100 countries. The Partners work together to safeguard the environment and develop ways of managing natural resources sustainably.
BirdLife International recognizes that it is vital to integrate environmental conservation with social development and livelihood security. Projects in some of the world's most important areas for biodiversity help communities to achieve sustainable livelihoods through the managed use of natural resources, so increasing economic growth and reducing social inequalities. BirdLife Partners promote dialogue between stakeholders at all levels of society, enabling local people to express their views and needs directly to decision-makers.
Online resources:
BirdLife International homepage
Earth Institute, Columbia University
The Earth Institute at Columbia University brings together expertise from throughout the University to address complex issues facing the planet and its inhabitants, with a particular focus on sustainable development and the needs of the world's poor. Under the direction of renowned economist Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, the Earth Institute supports pioneering projects in the biological, engineering, social, and health sciences, while actively encouraging interdisciplinary projects – often combining natural and social sciences – in pursuit of workable solutions to world problems. The Earth Institute is currently working with UNDP to achieve the Millennium Development Goals via the UN Millennium Project. The UN Millennium Project is a three-year initiative conceived by the United Nations to analyze policy options and develop a plan of implementation for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In order to identify the operational priorities, organizational means of implementation, and financing structures necessary to achieve the MDGs, ten thematically-organized task forces have been formed. Columbia University faculty members serve as co-chairs on several of these Millennium Project task forces.
Online resources:
Conservation Finance Alliance
Although governments, multilateral agencies and NGOs are increasingly aware of the need for sustainable conservation finance mechanisms, and while several innovative financing strategies have been pioneered by such institutions, these efforts have not achieved the scale of impact required to meet the global conservation funding challenge. The Conservation Finance Alliance was created to increase the level of sustainable public and private financing for biodiversity conservation to support the effective implementation of global conservation commitments. UNDP is an active member the alliance.
Online resources:
Conservation Finance Alliance homepage
Conservation International
Conservation International was founded to conserve Earth’s natural heritage, and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature. Currently, Conservation International is participating in a partnership with UNDP and the World Cocoa Foundation. The partners, in cooperation with other environmental and development groups, aim to promote crop diversification and other biodiversity-friendly methods of cultivation, rehabilitation of degraded lands and improved access to technology and training for farmers.
Online resources:
Conservation International homepage
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
The CGIAR's mission is to contribute to food security and poverty eradication in developing countries through research, partnerships, capacity building, and policy support. The CGIAR promotes sustainable agricultural development based on the environmentally sound management of natural resources. UNDP participated in the founding of the CGIAR in the early 1970s, and has served since then as one of its co-sponsors. The CGIAR system today represents a unique example of unbroken cooperation uniting international and bilateral development agencies, private foundations, and developing countries. The products of the CGIAR's research represent exemplary global public goods.
Online resources:
Ecoagriculture Partners / Monterrey Bridge Coalition
Ecoagriculture refers to resource management systems and practices that integrate productivity goals for crops, livestock, fish, trees and forests with the provision of ecosystem services (such as biodiversity and watershed services) at a landscape scale. Co-sponsored by the World Agroforestry Centre, IUCN, Forest Trends, and Future Harvest Foundation, Ecoagriculture Partners seeks to apply the principles of ecoagriculture in rural landscapes where both agricultural production and natural biodiversity are highly valued. Ecoagriculture Partners is an umbrella organization embracing diverse actors whose work is essential for the development and scaling up of ecoagriculture systems. Partners represent conservation NGOs, agricultural NGOs, international research organizations, farmers’ organizations, universities, private sector companies, inter-governmental organizations and public agencies. The Partners are active in another IUCN-FHF partnership – the Monterrey Bridge Coalition – which addresses the policy dimensions of integrating food production, environmental and poverty reduction goals. Currently, UNDP's Equator Initiative is participating in a research partnership whereby the Equator Initiative 2002 Award nominations are being used to document successful cases of ecoagriculture applications. This research is being conducted by Christian Isely, a joint research associate for both organizations under the direction of Sara J. Scherr, the director of Ecoagriculture Partners.
Online resources:
Ecoagriculture Partners homepage
>> Back to partnerships
Global Biodiversity Forum
Over the past 10 years, the Global Biodiversity Forum (GBF) has been regularly convened by IUCN, UNEP, WRI and the Secretariat to the Convention on Biological Diversity to provide a transparent and neutral platform for multi-stakeholder dialogues on key biodiversity-related issues. The 18th Session of the Global Biodiversity Forum was convened on September 5-7, 2003 in Cancun, Mexico. The session covered the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, risk, precaution and biosecurity, and trade and sustainable livelihoods.
Online resources:
Global Biodiversity Forum homepage
Group of Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries
The Group of Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries was founded in order that the countries with the highest percentages of biodiversity could join forces in the common goal of conservation. Current members of the Group include Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Peru, South Africa and Venezuela. The members together contain more than 70 per cent of the planet’s biological diversity and 45 per cent of the world’s human population. UNDP provides technical assistance and help to the Group with regard to capacity building.
Online resources:
Group of Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries homepage
IUCN – The World Conservation Union
IUCN is a network of members from 140 countries, 100 government agencies, and 750-plus NGOs. As stated by Achim Steiner, IUCN Director General, “IUCN builds bridges between governments and NGOs, science and society, local action and global policy. It is truly a world force for environmental governance.” Encouraging a web of partnerships – called the ‘Green Web’ – between institutions and people to manage and restore ecosystems and protect threatened species, IUCN prioritizes recognition of the ways in which the livelihoods of the poor depend on sustainable management. IUCN works to apply sound ecosystem management techniques that demonstrate how those directly dependent on natural resources can support livelihood activities in sustainable ways.
Online resources:
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
The RSPB is committed to conserving wildlife and plays a key role in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan – part of the United Kingdom’s contribution to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Overseen by an elected Council and committees for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the RSPB has grown since its founding in 1889 into Europe's largest wildlife conservation charity. It has offices across the UK and while its original campaign (to end the plumage trade) was successful, it has widened its sphere of influence to include a broad range of issues that affect both wildlife and habitats. The RSPB works internationally by supporting BirdLife partners and by engaging in many projects overseas, especially in Europe and Africa.
Online resources:
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was launched in 2001 by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to assist the assessment needs of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention to Combat Desertification, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and the Convention on Migratory Species as well as the needs of other users. The Assessment provides decision makers and the public with scientific data reflecting the consequences of ecosystem change, the subsequent impact on human health and well-being, and the needed responses to such change. With a focus on ecosystem services, the Assessment has the following objectives: identify priorities for action; provide tools for planning and management; provide foresight concerning the consequences of decisions affecting ecosystems; identify response options to achieve human development and sustainability goals; and help build individual and institutional capacity to undertake integrated ecosystem assessments and to act on their findings.
Further information:
Download Millennium Ecosystem Assessment PDF
Online resources:
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment homepage
Millennium Project
The Millennium Project is an independent advisory body to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan commissioned with recommending, by June 2005, the best strategies for meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This includes reviewing current innovative practices, prioritizing policy reforms, identifying frameworks for policy implementation, and evaluating financing options. The Project’s ultimate objective is to help ensure that all developing countries meet the MDGs.The MDGs provide a framework for the entire UN system to work coherently together toward a common end. Partnered with the rest of the UN Development Group (UNDG), UNDP is at the centre of these efforts. On the ground in virtually every developing country, UNDP is uniquely positioned to advocate for change, connect countries to knowledge and resources, and help coordinate broader UN efforts at the country level. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown, as Chair of the UNDG, to coordinate the MDG campaign and its country-level monitoring activities. For UNDP, this means working on four key dimensions:
>> Practical assistance in support of country priorities:
Working through the UNDG, UNDP is helping to integrate the MDGs into all aspects of the UN system's work at the country level, in response to the priorities identified by each country. UNDP staff, working closely with those of other UN agencies and a steadily expanding circle of partners, are supporting developing nations with practical advice and assistance to design policies and programmes, build capacity and test innovations, as these countries map out their own paths to reach the Goals.>> Monitoring:
UNDP is working with the rest of the UN system, the OECD/DAC and in many cases the World Bank and the IMF, to support MDG reports for every developing country. These reports, which are often the product of collaboration between a country’s government, the private sector and civil society, highlight where countries are on track to meet the Goals, where urgent efforts are needed, and how money is being spent.>> Research:
UNDP is setting up the United Nations Millennium Project, which will generate new research and ideas by mobilizing networks of scholars from developing and developed countries working with experts from within the UN system. Headed by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on the MDGs, this global effort will help identify what is needed – in terms of policy, expanded capacity, required investments and their financing – for countries to meet all the goals.
>> Advocacy:
UNDP is working within the UN system and with international and civil society partners to drive a series of advocacy and awareness-raising Millennium Campaigns within countries, based on national strategies and national needs. In developed countries, the campaign’s primary focus will be on raising awareness and galvanizing public opinion as a means to boost development assistance, trade, debt relief, technology and other support needed to reach the MDGs. In the developing world, the aim is to build coalitions for action and help governments set priorities and use resources more effectively.Online resources:
The Nature Conservancy
Since 1951, The Nature Conservancy has worked with communities, businesses and local populations to protect more than 116 million acres around the world. With a mission to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive, the Conservancy has developed a strategic, science-based planning process, called 'Conservation by Design'. This approach helps identify the highest priority places that, if conserved, promise to ensure biodiversity for future generations. The Conservancy launched a partnership with UNDP – and other partners within the Equator Initiative – at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa in September 2002.
Online resources:
The Nature Conservancy homepage
Swiss Re / Harvard University
UNDP, Swiss Re and Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment are collaborating in an innovative research partnership aimed at evaluating the health and economic damages from climate change and associated extreme weather events.
Swiss Re, the world's largest life and health reinsurance company, has historically been firmly committed to building awareness between international actors concerned with major climate and water changes and is a leading global expert in managing capital and risk.
Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment works to expand environmental education at medical schools and to further investigate and promote awareness of the consequences to human health of global environmental change. The Center was founded in 1996 at Harvard Medical School and is involved in a number of projects that address areas of environmentally focused inquiry. Core projects include research, media outreach and secondary education programmes.
The nature and extent of the risks posed to human societies by environmental change are becoming clearer. With regard to human health, there is strong evidence that climate change and ecosystem degradation can cause existing diseases, such as malaria and West Nile virus, to spread. Environmental change also appears to be causing new infectious diseases to emerge. Meanwhile, weather-related insurance losses have increased five-fold since the 1950s, currently reaching $40 billion a year. These losses are expected to grow to $150 billion annually within the next decade.
Although 96 per cent of disaster-related deaths occur in developing countries, insurance against these and other environmental risks is not available in an estimated 90 per cent of those countries, making this a central issue in poverty reduction efforts. The Harvard / Swiss Re / UNDP partnership will respond to developing countries in need of assistance in analyzing and mitigating the impact of these risks on poor communities.
Online resources:
Harvard University's Center for Health and the Global Environment homepage
UNEP-WCMC
The UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre was established in 2000 as the biodiversity information and assessment center of the United Nations Environment Programme. Activities conducted by UNEP-WCMC include assessment and early warning studies in forest, dryland, freshwater and marine ecosystems. Research on endangered species and biodiversity provide policy-makers with the necessary knowledge for interpreting global trends in conservation and sustainable use of wild species and their habitats. UNEP-WCMC worked with UNDP and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity to hold a meeting on “2010: The Global Biodiversity Challenge.” Additionally, in March 2003, UNEP-WCMC worked with UNDP and RSPB to help convene a meeting aimed at mainstreaming biodiversity within the Millennium Development Goals.
Online resources:
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was founded on November 16, 1945. Today, UNESCO works to forge universal agreements on emerging ethical issues that are of critical importance to policy makers around the world. The Organization also serves as a clearinghouse to disseminate and share information and knowledge in diverse fields. UNESCO promotes international co-operation among its Member States and Associate Members in the fields of education, science, culture and communication. UNESCO was involved in a number of partnership initiatives associated with the World Summit on Sustainable Development and emphasized that human security and poverty alleviation are inconceivable without sustainable development.
Online resources:
The United Nations Foundation
Through the support of the United Nations and its Charter, The United Nations Foundation works to promote a more equitable world by building innovative public-private partnerships. The United Nations Foundation acts to meet the most pressing health, humanitarian, socioeconomic, and environmental challenges of the 21st century. The UN Foundation is working with the United Nations, NGO's, governments and the corporate community to protect and conserve the environment. These efforts have focused on two areas: sustainable energy / climate change and conservation of biodiversity. The Foundation's strategy outlines specific potential leverage points including UN-designated World Heritage biodiversity sites and coral reefs. This focus allows for strategic grant making that will have an impact by targeting priority sites that combine rich biodiversity with the promotion of conservation and sustainable use.
Online resources:
The Wildlife Conservation Society
The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild lands through careful science, international conservation, education, and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together, these activities change individual attitudes toward nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in sustainable interaction on both a local and a global scale.
WCS works to combine the resources of wildlife parks in New York with field projects around the globe to inspire care for nature, provide leadership in environmental education, and help sustain earth's biodiversity.
Working with local communities and a range of partner organizations, including UNDP, WCS is currently active in 53 nations across Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America, protecting wild landscapes that are home to a vast variety of species.
Online resources:
Wildlife Conservation Society homepage
World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute is an environmental think-tank that seeks to find practical ways to protect Earth's biological resources while improving people's lives. WRI explores issues emerging from the dynamic interaction between environmental protection and economic development. Believing that economic development is essential in achieving a quality of life commensurate with the most basic of human rights, WRI considers the conservation of biodiversity as essential to the success of the development process. In the attempt to alleviate the loss of biodiversity the WRI works toward the following four objectives: the integration of biodiversity conservation in international economic policy; strengthening the international legal framework for conservation to complement the Convention on Biological Diversity; making the development assistance process a force for biodiversity conservation; and increasing funding for biodiversity conservation through the development of innovative, decentralized, and accountable ways to raise funds and spend them effectively.
Online resources:
World Resources Institute homepage
The World Wildlife Fund
The World Wildlife Fund is dedicated to protecting the world's wildlife and the lands they inhabit. Founded in 1961, WWF is the largest privately supported international conservation organization in the world. WWF directs its conservation efforts toward three main goals: protecting endangered spaces, saving endangered species and addressing global threats. WWF places particular emphasis on protecting natural areas and wild populations of plants and animals, including endangered species.
Online resources:
>> Back to top