Biodiversity Financing Initiative (BIOFIN), Colombia

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BIOFIN is an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) that works in partnership with national and local governments to finance projects that support biodiversity. The creators of the BIOFIN initiative noticed a lack of projects and systems that facilitate private and public investment in ecosystem restoration, with a focus on biodiversity. In Colombia, BIOFIN has worked with the national government to create systems that facilitate financing for the protection of the country's biodiversity. One of the most recent initiatives has been an investigation into the environmental impacts of specific subsidies in Colombia. The goal of this research is to reduce government investments in sectors that are damaging the country's biodiversity, and redirect funds to sectors that are more positive for ecosystems.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Economic and fiscal instruments›Financing mechanisms /market-based instruments (e.g. taxes to generate revenue)

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Drought and fire risk
Air quality
Nature appropriation / stewardship
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

BIOFIN helps finance projects aimed at restoring and maintaining biodiversity. Since Colombia is the country with the highest rate of biodiversity per square kilometer in the world, it is a country of high interest within the program. The BIOFIN program has not created specific interventions, but has helped create tools to finance Nature-Based Solutions, with the awareness that the global economy and human health is directly connected to biodiversity.

Good practice characteristics:

Effective

Sustainable in the long-term

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Inclusivity

Multifunctional NBS support

Governance

Non-governmental actor(s)

Initiating body:

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Details about how the instrument was designed:

BIOFIN was launched in 2010 at COP11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, by UNDP and the European Commission, in response to the urgent global need to divert more funding from all possible sources towards global and national biodiversity targets. Now present in 40 countries, BIOFIN is working with governments, civil society, vulnerable communities and the private sector to catalyze investments in nature. In Colombia, BIOFIN's technical committee has worked with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Finance, the National Planning Department, the National Administrative Department of Statistics and the National Environmental Licensing Authority. In collaboration with the Colombian government, BIOFIN helped create an action plan for biodiversity protection within the framework of the Financial Management Committee of the National Climate Change System (SISCLIMA). Finally, the BIOFIN team worked on the formulation and implementation of the District Program of Payments for Environmental Services, in conjunction with the District Secretariat of the Environment and the Mayor's Office of Bogotá.

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Details about the implementation:

Currently, Biodiversity Credit Systems are one of the mechanisms being implemented worldwide to compensate for impacts, mainly through habitat banks. BIOFIN Colombia wants to boost these emerging initiatives by increasing general knowledge about them and promote their use for the fulfillment of pending offsets. Therefore, it is worth noting that Colombia is becoming one of the leading countries in the region working on habitat banking. BIOFIN is supporting the Colombian government in the formulation of conservation and restoration projects in protected areas and other strategic areas of environmental importance at the regional level, with the objective of mobilizing resources from 1% of the current income of the territorial entities that must invest in the environment, royalties and the carbon tax.

How did the government support the instrument?:

Although the BIOFIN initiative is not a program designed by the Colombian government, the national and local governments work closely with the BIOFIN team to design and implement financing systems for projects related to Nature-Based Solutions.

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public national budget

Public regional budget

Corporate investment

Funds provided by non-governmental organization

Private Foundation

Budget:

Unknown

Details about instrument financing:

BIOFIN has supported the use of royalties in projects aimed at controlling deforestation and protecting biodiversity in territories with high deforestation rates, through financial, technical and management incentives, and investment projects formulated to control deforestation in protected areas. In Colombia, BIOFIN helped develop updated Regional Protected Areas Systems action plans with their financial strategy to be partially financed with resources from the National Royalties System, stakeholders with more basic knowledge on the design of financing strategies for Regional Protected Areas Systems and support for the construction of the National Protected Areas Policy in Colombia, together with Colombia's National Natural Parks, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the GEF and WWF. The estimated financial result is to mobilize a minimum of 94.5 million Euros through improving public budget execution and influencing the formulation of the investment budget. This research did not find information on how much budget has already been acquired.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

BIOFIN makes publications on its website following up on the work being done with different national governments. It also publishes on the progress of specific projects.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

Together with the Colombian government, and with support from other national governments, BIOFIN is developing a methodology to help examine the impact on nature of all subsidies in countries, based on previous learning from the OECD and others. This research aims to eliminate the most harmful subsidies and, where feasible, reuse subsidies so that they become positive for nature.

Success factors and lessons learned:

BIOFIN noted that funds exist to help support nature conservation and restoration, both in the private sector and in the public sector. The area of opportunity it identified is the lack of systems to attract budget to Nature Based Solutions. BIOFIN did not create new projects, but helped existing projects to thrive.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

https://www.biofin.org/index.php/news-and-media/where-are-resources-conserve-worlds-biodiversity-private-sector-experts-say https://www.biofin.org/index.php/country/colombia https://www.biofin.org/index.php/

Photos

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