Brussels, 22/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 22 May, the International Day for Biological Diversity, the European Commission launched the initiative Biodiversity for Life, to help developing countries protect their ecosystems, fight crime against wild species and develop green economies. Nicknamed B4Life for short, the initiative will have an initial budget of €800 million over seven years (2014-2020), funded by the EU thematic programme on EU Global Public Goods and Challenges (GPGC).
The least-developed countries and developing countries with the richest but most threatened biological resources will benefit from this money. The European Commission hopes that the member states of the EU and other international donors will also be putting their hands in their pockets.
In order to promote the proper governance of natural resources, B4Life will support the fight against corruption, the creation of national strategies to promote biodiversity, improved rules on the protection of biodiversity and the management of protected areas.
Keeping ecosystems healthy in order to guarantee food security is the second priority. To this end, B4Life will support the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices and the production of environmentally friendly products, the regeneration of degraded areas, the creation of community-based land management plans and coastal management plans, including marine protected areas.
Developing nature-based solutions towards a green economy will be encouraged by promoting public-private partnerships for the sustainable management of resources and support to small farmers to develop “payment for ecosystem services” schemes.
B4Life will also fund the fight against the increase in the illegal trade in endangered species. The EU is the world's largest donor to funding efforts to promote biodiversity in the developing countries. Between 2002 and 2012, the European Commission alone gave €1.3 billion to projects aiming to protect biodiversity, or to biodiversity-related projects. (AN)