The LifeWeb Initiative:Strengthening financing for protected areas to conserve biodiversity, secure livelihoods, and address climate change, through implementation of the CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas.

New Funding Match

Project: Financing and Management Effectiveness for Protected Areas in the South Caucasus

Donor: The Bank of Georgia

The Bank of Georgia, in partnership with the Caucasus Nature Fund, will contribute US$150,000 to Georgia’s Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park which is home to a wealth of flora and fauna and is a Birdlife International Important Bird Area. The park also provides important environmental and economic benefits to the region, including watershed maintenance and carbon storage in its old growth forests. The Caucasus forms an eco-region that has the highest level of bio-diversity within a temperate climate zone in the world. The government of Georgia has indicated the protected area network is the basis of their main strategy for conserving this incredible biodiversity.

For more information on this project:

• The LifeWeb Expression of Interest
• The Caucasus Nature Fund
  
• View the Press Release

Recent International Cooperation Roundtables

Roundtable meetings co-convened by governments and the CBD Secretariat’s LifeWeb Initiative provide a forum for focused and coordinated discussions on international cooperation support for protected area systems and for the wealth of benefits they provide.

These roundtables are based on priorities from national action plans for implementing the CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas and are consistent with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. They provide opportunity for donor partners to efficiently coordinate among themselves in support of recipient owned priorities.

In addition to those listed below, countries who have indicated interest to co-host roundtable meetings shortly after COP10, in partnership with CBD LifeWeb, include Cambodia, Guinea Bissau, Honduras, and Tunisia.

For more information: www.cbd.int/lifeweb/donors/roundtables/

Colombia

The ultimate goal of this round table is to create 9 new protected areas, and strengthen the management of the 56 already established within Colombia’s national protected areas system. The first meeting on 16 June 2010 and served to communicate Colombia’s ecological, management effectiveness, and financial priorities. The second meeting was held on 7 October 2010 to identify priority gaps and overlaps in international cooperation based on Colombia’s stated priorities, and define specific opportunities for international cooperation.

Meeting(s) Held: 16 June 2010 and 7 October 2010
Hosts: Colombia’s Presidential Agency for International Cooperation, Parques Colombia, CBD LifeWeb
International Cooperation Participants:
Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Walton Family Foundation

Mexico

Based on the results of comprehensive ecological, capacity and financial gaps analyses, the government of Mexico and CBD LifeWeb co-convened the first meeting of a roundtable to coordinate and strengthen financing for Mexico’s protected areas system. The government of Mexico has invited partners to engage in a next stage of this round table process, to jointly define the set of strategies and mechanisms that will be employed to meet the financial gap for the protected area system.

Meeting(s) Held: 7 October 2010
Hosts: Mexico’s National Commission for Protected Areas, CBD LifeWeb
International Cooperation Participants:
Over 30 domestic and international donor partners, representing governments, intergovernmental organizations and private foundations.

Amazon Conservation Vision

Directors of the National Protected Areas Authorities from the Amazon basin and international cooperation partners met in Lima 25 August 2010 to discuss an action plan for implementation of the CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas in the Amazon biome. This regional effort aims to build on national actions and develop a vision to protect 330 million hectares of forest in the region, for the life-giving goods and services these areas provide.

Meeting(s) Held: 25 August 2010
Hosts: Peru’s Ministry of Environment, RedParques
International Cooperation Participants:
National Protected Areas Authorities of countries in the region, Finland, Japan, France, Netherlands, United States of America, CBD LifeWeb

“FROM COMMITMENT TO ACTION” COP 10 Ecosystem Pavilion Evening Sessions

During the COP10 Ecosystem Pavilion evening sessions, held from 24 to 28 October in Nagoya, Japan, CBD LifeWeb partners will host a series of regionally focused evening events. These events will build on the daily Ecosystem Pavilion themes and are meant to highlight successes and opportunities for leadership and cooperation to move “From Commitment to Action.” These actions are crucial in meeting CBD commitments in the implementation of the Programme of Work on Protected Areas.

Sunday, 24 October, 18:00 – 20:30

CBD LifeWeb and Financing Protected Area Solutions Celebratory Dinner, held in the Konka Hotel in Nagoya, Japan.
LifeWeb will host a high-level celebratory dinner in honour of partners who have committed to financing protected areas profiled on the CBD LifeWeb platform as cost effective solutions to conserving biodiversity, addressing climate change and securing livelihoods through implementation of the CBD’s Programme of Work on Protected Areas . Several exciting large scale and important financing announcements from new donors partners are expected.

For an invitation to attend this event, please contact:
LifeWeb Initiative Coordination Office
Secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity
Tel: +1.514.287.6682
Email: lifeweb@cbd.int

For more information: www.cbd.int/images/lifeweb/cop10/flyer.pdf

The following Regional Evening Sessions, including a cocktail reception afterwards, will be held at the Rio Conventions’ Ecosystems Pavilion, Room 211A, Nagoya Conventions Center:

Monday, October 25, 18:00 to 19:30

Mesoamerican financing synergies through protected area solutions, featuring Forever Costa Rica and other national initiatives 
Despite their universal appeal for recreation, tourism, conservation, and ecosystem services, few, if any, natural protected areas in the world are fully funded. This imposes limits both on the conservation programmes that can be undertaken and the services that can be offered to local communities and the larger society. In recent years, Mesoamerican countries have made important efforts to develop financial mechanisms that ensure the resources needed for an effective conservation framework.

Tuesday, October 26, 18:00 to 19:30

Caribbean and Micronesian commitments and actions for protected area solutions
The GLISPA High Level Event at COP10 will bring together leaders from Islands around the world – small island developing states, archipelagic countries and countries with islands – with donors, IGO and NGO partners to share updates on on-going initiatives, announce significant commitments and profile innovative and inspiring partnerships for the conservation and sustainable use of island biodiversity. 

Wednesday, October 27, 18:30 to 19:30

South America commitments and actions for protected area solutions
UNDP, RedParques, WWF and CBD LifeWeb Initiative will celebrate and promote successful examples of synergies for sustainable development and poverty reduction in South America. Hosted in the Ecosystem Pavilion, this celebration features partner presentations and a reception to honor the visionary leaders who have identified conservation priorities and made political and/or financial commitments to achieve the conservation targets. 

Thursday, October 28th

West Africa commitments and actions for protected area solutions
The event will showcase the West African governments high level political will and present the financing priorities for protected areas as ecosystem-based solutions, based on national and regional priorities and a strong shared regional vision for the West African eco-region. The Prime Minister of Guinea Bissau, and other high-level officials from Cape Verde, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone, are anticipated to participate in this event.

CBD LifeWeb is seeking regional partners

A Tool to Identify Potential Sites for Action Under REDD

LifeWeb is working with the World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC) to develop a map tool that will overlay national gap analysis (called for by the CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas), protected areas and key biodiversity areas (from the World Database on Protected Areas), along with high and medium level resolution carbon stock data to highlight potential synergies between countries’ protected areas priorities and high carbon areas. These overlapping areas have potential to be supported under REDD+ programme, maximizing conservation efforts while also securing key ecosystem services, such as water provision, and support for sustainable livelihoods.

Further impetus to develop such tools was called for at the recent REDD+ Biodiversity Benefits Workshop, held in Nairobi, 20-23 September 2010, where it was stated that:

“Identifying and realizing multiple benefits can be supported through the application of - spatially explicit tools, such as maps and ecological gap analyses, to identify synergies and tradeoffs among climate change, biodiversity, and social issues”; (UNEP/CBD/WS-REDD/1/3/Co-chairs Summary, 13a )

Open Call for National Gap Analysis

For more information:
http://www.cbd.int/doc/programmes/cro-cut/pa/pa-redd-2008-12-01-en.pdf
www.wdpa.org
http://www.cbd.int/lifeweb/carbon/
http://www.un-redd.org/

The Little Green Biodiversity Finance Book

What's New

Updated Website Features

Protected areas are beautiful. We have added an image gallery to our website so you can browse the beautiful images that are submitted along with LifeWeb Expressions of Interest and get a better picture of what we are trying to protect.

www.cbd.int/lifeweb/search/gallery

LifeWeb, Protected Areas, and Millennium Development Goals We have created a web page to highlight LifeWeb projects and the essential role protected areas play in contributing to poverty alleviation and sustainable development. 

www.cbd.int/lifeweb/benefits/mdgs/

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) We have compiled a list of the most frequently asked question about CBD LifeWeb from our users. Please e-mail your questions to lifeweb@cbd.int

www.cbd.int/lifeweb/faqs/

What is LifeWeb

LifeWeb provides a user-friendly clearing house for countries to profile their protected area needs and invite international support; facilitates funding matches; coordinates counterpart financing among donors; and recognizes donor support and innovation for natural solutions.  

The Life Web Initiative was launched in May 2008 at the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, Germany. For further information on LifeWeb, please visit our website or download our brochure.

Donor Involvement

LifeWeb applauds the contributions of its committed donors, the governments of Germany, Finland, and Spain, and further invites donors to consider supporting protected area projects profiled on the LifeWeb website, as consistent with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.  For more information on donor involvement and value added for donors , click here.