European Commission, MEMO, Brussels, 22 May 2014:
B4Life: United for Biodiversity
-
Why do we need EU Biodiversity for Life? What is the value-added?
EU Biodiversity for Life
(B4Life) marks a change in the way the EU provides support to protect
biodiversity in developing countries. In the face of the growing global
threats to biodiversity, it provides for more resources, strengthened
capacity and better coordination with partners.
B4Life is one of EuropeAid’s new
flagship initiatives, designed to encourage broad, cross-sector
partnerships to tackle major development challenges. For B4Life, this
means addressing the related challenges of protecting biodiversity and
building sustainable livelihoods in a green economy.
B4Life thus responds both to the
growing threat to global ecosystems, including from land use changes,
unsustainable use of natural resources, poaching and wildlife crime,
pollution and climate change; and to the need of the poorest
communities, over 70% of whom live in rural areas and depend directly on
ecosystem services for their subsistence.
-
What are ecosystem services?
Ecosystem services are the
benefits people obtain from the wide variety of ecosystems across the
Earth. These include provisioning services such as food and water;
regulating services such as climate regulation, climate change
mitigation, flood and disease control, pollination, and the maintenance
of soil fertility; cultural services such as spiritual, recreational and
cultural benefits; and supporting services, such as genetic diversity
and habitats, that maintain the conditions for life on Earth.
-
What sort of activities might be eligible for B4Life funding?
B4Life will include projects
with biodiversity as their main objective. This will include, for
example, projects to support the sustainable management of protected
areas, to develop trade in biodiversity-related products for sustainable
livelihoods, to reduce deforestation and degradation of mangroves for
the protection of coasts and nursery habitats for fish, and to increase
monitoring and information sharing to fight wildlife crime.
-
Which regions/countries are targeted by the initiative?
In line with the EU’s Agenda for
Change (its policy blueprint to target its resources where they are
most needed and can be the most effective), B4Life will focus on those
developing countries most in need and with the greatest potential, by
paying particular attention to Least Developed Countries and countries
containing “biodiversity hotspots”, the places where ecosystems and
their services are the richest but also the most threatened, like the
Congo Basin, Madagascar, the West African forests, Tropical Andes,
Mesoamerica, Indian Western Ghats, Kalimantan…
-
What is the timeframe of the initiative?
B4Life will run for the current
EU financial period, 2014-2020. During this period, there will be
regular calls for project proposals according to the needs identified.
-
How will it work?
A “B4Life Facility” will be
created to manage and coordinate delivery of the initiative. The
Facility will provide technical support, enhance communication and
coordination towards achieving international biodiversity targets and
coherence, promote knowledge exchange for partners and beneficiaries,
and enhance the visibility and coherence of the EU biodiversity-related
interventions.
-
What is the ‘Wildlife Crisis Window’?
The wildlife crisis window is a
contribution to addressing the wildlife poaching and trafficking crisis
throughout the entire chain of wildlife consumption.
The challenge of wild life
trafficking is huge and has recently experienced a dramatic
acceleration. Illegal wildlife trade of endangered species has a major
impact on biodiversity and represents a real threat to national security
of many countries, and especially in Africa. Unprecedented poaching
levels and sophisticated smuggling capabilities are indicative of
organised criminal activity, severely compromising the security of
entire communities.
The B4Life wildlife crisis
window will scale-up the means allocated to tackle this issue, while
addressing both supply- and demand-side, at local, national, regional
and international levels. This will include increased protection of
priority areas, monitoring and investigation measures and support to
organisations specialised in the fight against international trafficking
of endangered species.
[europa.eu]
22/5/14
--
-
Related:
Environment: Experts meet to discuss how to better fight wildlife trafficking in the EU and globally
No comments:
Post a Comment
Only News