The Convention on Biological Diversity 2011-2020 Strategic Plan aims to integrate biodiversity values into local and national development strategies. At the same time, it is widely recognised that local communities require economic - amongst other - incentives if they are to change practices that threaten biodiversity. However, efforts by conservation organisations to support the livelihoods of natural resource dependent communities often fail to provide lasting economic benefits, to have impact at scale or to reduce pressure on biodiversity. Reasons for this failure lie in capacity gaps among key actors.
For conservation organisations, these include:
- poor understanding of market systems, as evidenced by initiatives producing handicrafts or other ‘biodiversity-friendly’ products and services that target tiny niche markets in which supply exceeds demand and/or poor and marginalised rural producers face high barriers to entry (e.g. certification).
- lack of skills and experience in engaging private-sector actors and in supporting government agencies to create an enabling environment for sustainable development.
For small and growing enterprises, they include:
- challenges accessing investment capital and crucial business development services, including business management training in skills such as accounting and financial forecasting and management, business planning, strategy development and marketing
- insufficient knowledge of the values of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services
- few examples of economically viable, socially sustainable, biodiversity-positive business models
This project will help address these crucial capacity gaps. The project will contribute to the development and practical implementation of viable business models that provide positive social, economic and conservation impacts in landscapes of strategic biodiversity value. This will be achieved through an innovative capacity-building programme that combines – firstly, support to conservation practitioners and post-graduate students to identify - and facilitate development of - market systems with high potential for positive biodiversity impact and secondly, business incubation and development support to enterprises and social/environmental entrepreneurs identified as candidates for conservation impact investment (this will be continued after the project duration).
This project is funded by the CCI Collaborative Fund for Conservation.