ENG - UN CC:Learn

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
UNDP’S BIODIVERSITY PRIORITIES &
APPROACHES
■ Promote mainstreaming of biodiversity,
ecosystem services, and protected areas into
global and national policy frameworks, sectoral
policies, and landscapes
■ Support developing countries in protecting traditional
knowledge and ensuring equitable
sharing of biodiversity’s benefits
■ Encourage diffusion of knowledge about best
practices in conservation and sustainable use
of biodiversity
■ Support community efforts, particularly in biodiversity-rich
areas, to conserve biodiversity
through sustainable livelihoods
■ Advocate for parks and protected areas strategies
that treat local people and communities
as important partners and create opportunities
for improved local livelihoods
■ Promote emerging markets in ecosystem services
that enable improved livelihoods and
enhanced capital flows to poor communities
in developing countries
■ Support policy development and research for
ecosystem-based approaches that meet core
objectives for both agricultural development
and biodiversity conservation
OUTCOMES & IMPACTS
■ Integration of biodiversity conservation, related
impacts on ecosystem services, and economic
valuation of biodiversity into national
development planning and monitoring
■ Adoption of national plans to conserve local
biodiversity
■ Creation of public-private partnerships for
biodiversity conservation and sustainable use
■ Mobilisation of necessary national resources
for biodiversity conservation plans
Typically, the wealthy control access to biodiversity and ecosystem services.
They consume more ecosystem services than the poor, and they can afford
to purchase substitutes for services that degraded ecosystems no longer
provide. For instance, the wealthy can purchase imported seafood to
replace lost catches from depleted fisheries, while the poor enjoy no such
luxury.
Through capacity development, knowledge management, policy advice and
advocacy, UNDP helps more than 140 countries maintain and sustainably
use their biodiversity resources. We support empowerment of host countries
and communities to ensure equitable sharing of the benefits of biodiversity
as well as their ability to determine the terms for access to genetic
resources under their custodianship. UNDP also engages in strategic partnerships
to provide cutting-edge knowledge related to biodiversity conservation
and poverty reduction, including on such topics as ecoagricultural
approaches, ecotourism, and the importance of biodiversity to human
health. Central to UNDP’s approach is identification of win-win options that
simultaneously serve poverty reduction, sustainable livelihoods, and biodiversity
conservation objectives. UNDP manages a portfolio of ongoing biodiversity
projects budgeted at more than US$2 billion mainly through its
GEF and co-financing resources.
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