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  • Side Events (205)

Meetings

  • COP 12 (205)

Subjects

Aichi Targets

Date

Side Event

Conserving Biodiversity at the African Development Bank (AfDB)

Organizer
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (AfDB)

Date and Time
16 October 2014 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group is a premier multilateral development finance institution. It is one of the five major global multilateral development banks (MDBs) in the world. The AfDB was established in 1964 to contribute to the economic development and social progress of its regional member, both individually and collectively and to mobilize resources for the financing economic integration on the African continent. The AfDB marks its Golden Jubilee in 2014. Over the last 15 years, the Bank has developed programs and projects aimed at protecting wildlife by reinforcing the capacity of institutions in charge of managing protected areas and improving livelihoods of communities living around those protected areas. The current massive elephant poaching and illegal trafficking of wildlife products have compelled the Bank to closely work with Regional members’ countries and regional institutions to halt this rapid depletion of biological resources in Africa. The Bank considers that wildlife trafficking is not just an environmental issue. It fuels organized crime and corruption, and compromises regional security. It breeds violence and now threatens peace and the rule of law as well eroding the revenues that many African countries earn from tourism and other wildlife uses. In May 2013, during the last annual meeting in Marrakesh, the Bank, in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), launched the Marrakesh Initiative. This Initiative is a joint global call for action and commitment from governments and other institutions to combat illicit wildlife trafficking. The purpose of this side-event will be to go through these different Banks’ interventions and the approach that is being used to fight poaching and illegal trafficking of wildlife.