J.8_ USAID Biodiversity Policy.pdf

USAID BIODIVERSITY POLICY

Front Cover Photos

Brazil – Surui Reforestation Project (José Caldas): An indigenous Surui man stands next to a sign for a USAID-supported reforestation and sustainable-management project in Rondonia, Brazil.

Thailand – Engaging Thai Youth in Protecting Threatened Ecosystems (Somsak Soonthornnawaphat):

Schoolgirls learn about riparian health and water-quality testing at a USAID-supported training camp in the Mae Sa-Kog Ma Biosphere Reserve.

Timor-Leste Coral Reef (Nick Hobgood, DAI): Coral reefs in Southeast Asia are some of the most biologically diverse and extensive in the world. They are also among the most threatened, due to destructive fishing practices.

MARCH 2014 (reprinted June 2015)

WASHINGTON, DC

iii

Table of Contents List of Acronyms .................................................................................................................................... iv

Message from the Administrator .......................................................................................................... v

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... vi

I. Executive Summary

II. Introduction

Is Development Sustainable?

Box 1: Call for Change

Biodiversity Conservation and Development Box 2: Key Definitions and Concepts Box 3: Linkages between Biodiversity and Development: Integration Pathways

Threats and Drivers of Biodiversity Loss Box 4: Biodiversity Drivers and Threats Box 5: Anatomy of a Threat: Wildlife Trafficking

USAID’s Experience in Addressing Biodiversity Conservation and Development Box 6: Contributions of Forest Governance to Development in Nepal

III. USAID’s Vision, Goals, and Objectives for Biodiversity Conservation

Vision: To conserve biodiversity for sustainable, resilient development

Goals

Objectives Box 7: Governance and Power in Conservation Box 8: Payment for Ecosystem Services in Vietnam Box 9: Biodiversity and Climate Change Adaptation Box 10: The USAID Program Cycle and Integration Box 11: Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment through Biodiversity Conservation Box 12: The Global FISH Alliance: Partnering with the Private Sector for Sustainability Box 13: Principles for Sound Science

IV. Agenda for Change

Biodiversity Code

Geographic Priorities Box 14: Tier One Operating Units Box 15: Setting Subnational Priorities

V. Roles and Responsibilities

VI. Conclusion

Annexes Annex I – Guiding Principles for Biodiversity Policy Annex II – Roadmap for Biodiversity Policy Implementation Annex III – Geographic Prioritization Process

Endnotes iv

List of Acronyms BRM Office of Budget and Resource

Management

CBD Convention on Biological Diversity

CDCS Country Development Cooperation Strategy

CFR Code of Federal Regulations

CFUG Community Forest User Group

CGIAR Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

E3 Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment

EBA Ecosystem-based Adaptation

FAA Foreign Assistance Act

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization

FTA Free Trade Agreement

GEI Green Economy Initiative

GBI Global Benefits Index

GEF Global Environment Facility

G-FISH Global Fish Alliance

GHG Greenhouse Gas

IPBES Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

ITTO International Tropical Timber Organization

IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature

KM Knowledge Management

MEA Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

NBSAP National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan

NGO Nongovernmental Organization

OECD/DAC Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/ Development Assistance Committee

OSTP White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

PES Payments for Environmental Services

PPL Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning

SSC Species Survival Commission

RDCS Regional Development Cooperation Strategy

UNCCD United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

UN United Nations

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

USAID United States Agency for International Development

USG United States Government

WCPA World Commission on Protected Areas

WHO World Health Organization

WWF World Wildlife Fund v

Message from the Administrator I am pleased to share with you USAID’s new Biodiversity Policy, which builds on our Agency’s long history of conserving a global biological heritage for future generations and reflects our recognition of the essential role that healthy natural systems play in advancing resilient societies and ending extreme poverty. This Policy provides a blueprint for how we will work to achieve our vision of conserving biodiversity for sustainable long-term development.

Today, at least 1.6 billion people worldwide rely on forests for some part of their livelihood, and about

2.6 billion people in developing countries depend on fish for protein and income. The poor management of both forests and fisheries means that these precious resources will not meet human demand over the long term – compromising global food security and straining the resilience of these systems and society. Unbridled exploitation is also leading to unprecedented rates of species extinction. These trends threaten the ability of families to lift themselves out of extreme poverty and communities to protect against economic or environmental shocks.

With this new Policy, we are harnessing the power of innovation and proven approaches to effectively protect and manage the environment that supports us – the fertile farms, water basins, and clean air that will sustain our growth and spur our prosperity for generations to come. The Biodiversity Policy represents our recommitment to conserve some of the world’s most cherished resources, including swift action to stamp out global wildlife trafficking. It also emphasizes a new focus on integrating biodiversity into our broader mission, through evidence-based approaches and high-impact partnerships that will deliver meaningful results.

The development of this Policy was analysis based and participatory through several rounds of review that culminated in a public consultation period. The Policy has benefited greatly from this level of expert engagement, consultation, and transparency, and we are proud to be heeding President Obama’s call for open government.

We consider the stewardship of nature a critical and effective strategy for achieving equitable and sustainable development results. With this Policy, USAID is well positioned to chart a development path that nourishes, rather than depletes, natural capital. Achieving this vision will require creativity to address our world’s most pressing conservation problems; it will require us to act decisively in the face of uncertainty and work across traditional divides to create new pathways to sustainability.

Rajiv J. Shah Administrator vi

The USAID Biodiversity Policy was developed by an Agency steering committee under the leadership of Holly Ferrette and Hannah Fairbank, in close coordination with USAID’s Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning (PPL). Members of the steering committee who worked tirelessly on the analytical, strategic, and political aspects of policy development included Alex Dehgan, Cynthia Gill, Alicia Grimes, Hadas Kushnir, Bronwyn Llewellyn, Kathryn Stratos, and Kathryn Stevens, with strong technical inputs from Spike Millington and administrative support from Shereen Abdelaaty.

The work of the steering committee was supported by analytical working groups made up of a broad range of USAID staff in Washington and field missions, too numerous to list here. Members of the USAID Forestry and Biodiversity Office contributed many hours, reviewing drafts and providing critical feedback to the steering committee. Will Gibson, Bruce Bayle, Christy Johnson, Mary Melnyk, and Tim Resch provided robust technical inputs from their regional perspectives. Julie Kunen, Genevieve Maricle, and Ashley Marcus of PPL and Mark Murray of the Office of Budget and Resource Management provided critical guidance for the process and smoothed the way for the Policy as it developed.

The Policy also benefited greatly from the close involvement and wise counsel of USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment (E3) leadership, Eric Postel and Christian Holmes.

The development of this Policy was highly consultative, with several rounds of review that culminated in a public consultation period through which USAID received valuable feedback from civil society, academia, and private-sector and U.S. government entities. The Policy is much stronger because of this level of expert engagement, consultation, and transparency, and the input of all those reviewers who participated in the consultations is very much appreciated.

Acknowledgements

The 21st century holds much promise and peril for human well-being and for biodiversity. There is tremendous opportunity to advance development while protecting the natural systems on which the world depends, as well as a global acknowledgement of the very real costs to humanity of biodiversity loss.

Through USAID’s first Biodiversity Policy, USAID and its partners will support and mobilize resources to chart a development pathway that nourishes, rather than depletes, natural capital.

The USAID Biodiversity Policy builds upon the Agency’s long history of conserving a global biological heritage for current and future generations and reflects a deep understanding of the role that healthy natural systems play in achieving the Agency’s human-development goals.

The Policy recognizes that biodiversity loss can be driven by unsustainable development, that there may be trade-offs that must be understood and managed between biodiversity conservation and development goals, and that biodiversity conservation itself can be a critical tool in the Agency’s toolkit for achieving sustainable development.

While there has been much progress in overall economic prosperity around the world over the last decades, the challenges for countries and the international development community remain daunting. Roughly 1.2 billion people worldwide are still living in extreme poverty.1 Conflict and corruption continue to be some of the greatest barriers to prosperity, and lack of good governance excludes the poor and other disadvantaged groups from contributing to decisions that affect their lives.2

Added to this list of challenges is the loss of biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), the most comprehensive evaluation ever undertaken of the state of the world’s ecosystems and their capacity to support human well-being, found that “over the past 50 years, humans have changed these ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history.”3

These losses are tearing the very fabric of the natural systems that sustain global development – systems that provide clean and plentiful water and fertile soils, pollination of crops, resilience to climate shocks, fish- and forest-based food security, and ecological dynamics that keep pests and diseases in check.

Further, the actions leading to biodiversity loss, such as wildlife trafficking, can have negative impacts on core elements of development, such as rule of law and national security.

The USAID Biodiversity Policy provides a blueprint for how the Agency will work to achieve its vision of conserving biodiversity for sustainable, resilient development. (See USAID’s Blueprint for Biodiversity Conservation box, below.) The Policy deepens the Agency’s appreciation of the intrinsic value of biodiversity. It also recognizes that human well-being and progress are dependent on the health of biodiversity systems and that durable development gains are not possible unless these systems are valued and safeguarded. To this end, USAID will work hand in hand with host countries and the global

I. Executive Summary

VISION: TO CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY FOR

SUSTAINABLE, RESILIENT DEVELOPMENT

GOALS: 1) conserve biodiversity in priority places, and 2) integrate biodiversity as an essential component of human development

OBJECTIVES:

support enabling conditions for biodiversity conservation;

reduce priority drivers and threats to biodiversity;

integrate conservation and development for improved biodiversity and development outcomes;

build partnerships to mobilize resources in support of biodiversity conservation;

influence key international policies in support of biodiversity conservation; and apply science, technology, and learning to enhance biodiversity conservation practice

USAID’S BLUEPRINT FOR

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

community to conserve biodiversity for sustainable, resilient development.

This Policy represents a recommitment of USAID to conserve biodiversity through strategic actions to reduce threats and drivers, as well as a new focus on integrating biodiversity conservation with other development sectors. A roadmap for implementation highlights the most critical steps necessary for implementing this Policy. (See Annex II.)

Effective immediately, the Policy promotes the selective, focused, and strategic use of biodiversity resources through modifications to the Agency’s Biodiversity Code and through identifying priority countries/ regions for biodiversity programming. USAID will focus on high-biodiversity-priority geographies where the Agency has a comparative advantage for making positive change and can support host-country conservation and development priorities. USAID will support the conservation of priority sites, species, and genetic diversity and align biodiversity resources to national and regional development goals and the global public good.

Through an Agenda for Change in support of achieving the Policy goals, USAID will apply the principles of selectivity and focus in prioritizing the strategic use of Agency biodiversity resources;

embark on evidence-based action and learning efforts with a focus on the nexus of biodiversity and other development sectors;

support gender equality and women’s and indigenous peoples’ empowerment in leadership and decision making in the biodiversity conservation context and strengthen the legal and/or traditional land and resource rights of communities and indigenous peoples;

make limited revisions to USAID’s Biodiversity Code, which defines Agency programs in the sector;

forge innovative partnerships with the private and public sectors, civil society, indigenous peoples, and academia to leverage resources and skills that can magnify results and avoid duplication of effort;

harness innovations in science and technology to improve the practice of conservation and increase impact; and develop a five-year implementation plan for the Policy that builds on the Biodiversity Policy Roadmap to outline and guide critical steps and stakeholders in Policy implementation.

What will not change under this Policy? In order to build on and mobilize current USAID human and institutional capacities under the Policy, the Agency will continue USAID’s comprehensive approach to conserve biodiversity through strategic actions to reduce threats in high-biodiversity geographies and target key transboundary and global drivers, such as wildlife trafficking and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, that contribute to biodiversity loss;

build on the Agency’s strong legacy and experience in biodiversity conservation to demonstrate international leadership and influence key policy fora for improved conservation outcomes; and renew commitment to knowledge management (KM) drawing on and enhancing the Agency’s rich reservoir of experience and use that knowledge to better inform policy and program design, foster innovation, and improve performance and collaboration.

USAID’s first Biodiversity Policy builds on the Agency’s experience and legacy of achieving conservation results while also contributing to the well-being of people who rely on these resources through creation of sustainable livelihoods, transparent and accountable systems of governance, secure resource tenure, and other development dividends.

Photo: Andrew Watson, DAI USAID projects have helped support orangutan conservation efforts in Indonesia. Fewer than 6,000 Sumatran orangutans remain in the wild.

Over the past half-century, the world has seen more progress toward economic prosperity and human development than during any other time in human history. Global income per capita in real terms has increased by 70 percent in the past 30 years. More than 2 billion people gained access to improved sources of drinking water, and the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen at an unprecedented rate – a reduction of more than 700 million people since 1990.4 During this same time period, however, humans have altered natural ecosystems at a greater rate and more extensively than in any comparable period in history, with biodiversity in a state of precipitous decline.5

The UN Millennium Development Goals Report confirms that environmental sustainability is under extreme threat, with forests lost at an alarming speed and fish stocks overexploited.6

As the international community grapples with the challenges of lifting up the estimated 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty worldwide, doubling the global food supply in the next several decades to meet increasing demand,7 and promoting resilient

II. Introduction

IS DEVELOPMENT SUSTAINABLE?

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, in its report on Sustaining Environmental Capital: Protecting Society and the Economy, urged the U.S. Government to address “the threats to both the environmental and the economic aspects of well-being that derive from the accelerating degradation of the environmental capital.” *

InterAction, an alliance of nearly 200 U.S.-based international relief and development NGOs, calls for an integrated approach between conservation and development that “requires new partnerships, capacity building for effective resources management, and better ways of measuring success.” **

The UN’s Green Economy Initiative seeks a “development path [that] should maintain, enhance, and, where necessary, rebuild natural capital as a critical economic asset and source of public benefits, especially for poor people whose livelihoods and security depend strongly on nature.” ***

* Executive Office of the President, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Report to the President: Sustaining Environmental Capital: Protecting Society and the Economy, Washington, DC: Executive Office of the President, 2011.

** See www.interaction.org.

*** United Nations Environment Programme, “Green Economy.”

BOX 1: CALL FOR CHANGE

Photo: Nick Hobgood, DAI Haitians taking charcoal to market through the Limbé valley’s denuded hillsides. Deforestation, soil erosion, and low agricultural productivity all play a part in cycles of extreme poverty in many parts of the world.

http://www.interaction.org democratic societies, the interconnectedness of development and the health of natural systems comes into clear focus.

Though the concept of sustainable development based on economic, social, and environmental pillars has been widely accepted, implementation and progress toward success have proven difficult.8

Increasingly, however, a growing consensus recognizes that development cannot be sustainable if it results in the degradation of the natural capital that supports economic activity and progress in other areas such as public health, food security, and resilience to climate change. (See Box 1: Call for Change.) Further, there is increased understanding that effective sustainable development, including environmental stewardship, thrives in situations characterized by a free and fair political system, respect for human rights, a vibrant civil society, and public confidence in the police and the courts.

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

AND DEVELOPMENT

Biodiversity refers to the variety and variability of ecosystems, species, genes, and habitats in the world and underpins ecosystem goods and services, although the precise nature and extent of that relationship is complex.9 (See Box 2: Key Definitions and Concepts.) The loss of biodiversity can make ecosystems and societies less resilient and threaten the production of ecosystem services.

The conservation of biodiversity has traditionally been framed as a challenge to protect species, habitats, and ecosystems; stop extinctions; and conserve what is a shared global heritage with intrinsic value. This is an important rationale for conservation, but it is not the only one.

Biodiversity conservation efforts, including sustainable use, help to maintain natural earth processes that create the environmental goods and services that enable development – food, fiber, fodder, pollination, clean water, fertile soils, and wood. For example, a recent study concluded that high-biodiversity areas provide over half of the ecosystem services on which the poor depend, and conserving just 25 percent of those areas would sustain 50 percent of realized ecosystem goods and services.10

Biodiversity: “The variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems.” *

Sustainable Use: “The use of components of biological diversity in a way and at a rate that does not lead to the long-term decline of biological diversity, thereby maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations.” **

Ecosystem: “A dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit.” ***

Ecosystem Services: The short- and long-term benefits people obtain from ecosystems.

They include 1) provisioning goods and services, or the production of basic goods such as food, water, fish, fuels, timber, and fiber; 2) regulating services, such as flood protection, purification of air and water, waste absorption, disease control, and climate regulation; 3) cultural services that provide spiritual, aesthetic, and recreational benefits;

and 4) supporting services necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services, such as soil formation, production of oxygen, crop pollination, carbon sequestration, photosynthesis, and nutrient cycling.

Natural Capital: “The stock of natural ecosystems that yields a flow of valuable ecosystem goods or services into the future.

…Since the flow of services from ecosystems requires that they function as whole systems, the structure and diversity of the system are important components of natural capital.” ****

* Convention on Biological Diversity. “Article 2: Use of Terms, Convention on Biological Diversity.”

** Ibid.

*** Ibid.

**** Robert Costanza, “Natural Capital,” The Encyclopedia of Earth.

BOX 2: KEY DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS

In addition to maintaining the stocks and flows of ecosystem goods and services, biodiversity conservation actions can create development “co-benefits” such as building empowered local communities, diversifying livelihoods, promoting gender equality, increasing government transparency and accountability, and contributing to peace and security. Seen in this light, biodiversity conservation is not an afterthought or special-interest issue, but rather an essential component of achieving sustainable development.

The following facts exemplify ways in which biodiversity and healthy ecosystems can contribute to development outcomes:

2.6 billion people in developing countries derive a substantial part of their animal protein consumption from fish, making it an important staple for food security.11

The total economic value of insect pollination worldwide is estimated at about $210 billion, representing 9.5 percent of world agricultural output in 2005.12

The risk of disease and malnutrition increases when biodiversity is lost. Roughly 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases, transferred to humans from animals, are driven by land-use change and altered human/wildlife interactions.13 The decline in wildlife populations, an important food source in the developing world, is contributing to iron and zinc deficiency in humans.14

Biodiversity has a key role in mitigating climate change through carbon storage and sequestration.

One study determined that the net benefits of halving deforestation could amount to $3.7 trillion over the long term.15

Biodiversity is the basis for profitable and sustainable enterprises. For example, in Namibia, long-term investment in community-based conservancies has improved wildlife populations and resulted in $451 million Namibian dollars16 ($41 million U.S. dollars) in revenue17 from sustainable-use activities, such as tourism, for more than 12 percent of the population.18

Biodiverse ecosystems play an important role in helping societies mitigate and adapt to natural disasters and are a cost-effective alternative to building infrastructure; for example, coral reefs provide a natural buffer against the impact of storms on coastal populations.19 During the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, areas with healthy mangroves experienced less loss of human life than those where forests had been destroyed.20

Trafficking of wildlife parts, such as from tigers, rhinos, and elephants, threatens the survival of these important species; imperils livelihoods;

contributes to organized crime, terrorism, and other kinds of trafficking; and diminishes rule of law and national security.21

Despite the clear linkages, there is still much to learn about how to effectively conserve biodiversity;

achieve development results; and understand when there are trade-offs between the two in terms of scale, timeframe, responsibilities, and distribution of costs and benefits. A community or local government, for example, might be able to maximize short-term economic benefits by granting a forest concession to the highest bidder; however, they then forgo the

Photo: Michelle Baird Local officials and members of the police force work together to plant mangrove seedlings on Samal Island, Philippines, where a marine park has been established with USAID assistance.

“ Biodiversity is not just a luxury for the rich, it is a necessity for the poor.”

Pavan Sukhdev, study leader The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (June 2012) opportunity to sustainably manage their forest and derive steady and longer-term economic benefits that might be more equitably shared. Longer-term benefits may come from sustainable forest-based enterprises and ecosystem goods and services, such as non-timber forest products and watershed-protection services. Improved understanding and management of trade-offs will require a strong evidence base to inform decision making, including a better understanding of the distribution of the costs and benefits of growth, how to value the natural capital that enables development, and best practices to conserve biodiversity. It will also require recognition of the linkages between biodiversity and development and finding better ways to integrate conservation and development practices.22 (See Box 3: Linkages between Biodiversity and Development: Integration Pathways.)

The way forward will require larger-scale, long-term planning that brings together diverse stakeholders – both from the fields that can be the major drivers of biodiversity loss, such as energy, agriculture, security, trade, and investment, and from among those who are most often affected by the lack of development and environmental sustainability, such as women, the poor, indigenous peoples, and other marginalized groups.

Given the rapid rate of biodiversity loss, it is also important to take more immediate actions to address critical drivers and threats to globally significant biodiversity that contributes to national and regional development goals and conservation priorities.

Biodiversity can no longer be seen as an issue separate from the core concerns of society: tackling extreme poverty, increasing food security, improving public health, managing the growing impacts of global climate change, and building resilience to recurrent crises. Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity can produce a variety of human development dividends, and development can shape biodiversity outcomes. This complex and dynamic relationship has multiple pathways:

Biodiversity and healthy ecosystems provide goods and services critical to human well-being (clean water, food, reduced natural disaster risk) and can help sustain development outcomes.

Biodiversity conservation activities can yield development co-benefits, such as diversifying livelihoods, promoting gender equity, increasing government transparency, and contributing to peace and security;

thus, biodiversity conservation is an important development strategy.

Development is a major source of pressure on biodiversity, and proactive engagement can produce a spectrum of results, from avoidance or mitigation of impacts and compensation for biodiversity loss to delivering positive conservation outcomes.

Approaches from other development sectors can enhance biodiversity conservation practice (e.g., value chain analysis, conflict analysis, land registration, social media) and in turn other development sectors can benefit from the adoption of biodiversity conservation approaches (e.g., ecosystem-based approaches, land-use planning).

BOX 3: LINKAGES BETWEEN BIODIVERSITY AND DEVELOPMENT: INTEGRATION PATHWAYS

“ The challenge for the [biodiversity] conservation and development community is to engage in a social process that allows for compromise and the explicit acknowledgement of risks and costs, while at the same time gaining ever more clarity and purpose regarding those things that should not be traded off.”

Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 (2010)

THREATS AND DRIVERS OF

BIODIVERSITY LOSS

The speed and degree of global biodiversity loss is alarming by any measure: The world is losing species at a rate that is 100 to 1,000 times faster than natural extinction rates,23 and the extent and health of natural habitats continue to decline globally, particularly in marine and coastal areas. Most large forest, river, and grassland ecosystems face extensive fragmentation and degradation.24

A powerful combination of human-induced threats and drivers is causing biodiversity loss globally. (See Box 4: Biodiversity Drivers and Threats.) Although there are a variety of terms and taxonomies that the conservation community uses to refer to threats and drivers, for purposes of this Policy, a threat is a proximate human activity or process that explicitly causes degradation or loss of biodiversity;25 whereas a driver is the ultimate social, economic, political, institutional, or cultural factor that enables or exacerbates one or more threats.26

BOX 4: BIODIVERSITY DRIVERS AND THREATS

Drivers Threats Definition A driver is the ultimate factor, usually social, economic, political, institutional, or cultural, that enables or otherwise adds to the occurrence or persistence of one or more threats.*

A threat is a proximate human activity or process that explicitly causes degradation or loss of biodiversity.**

Categories demographic factors economic factors sociopolitical factors cultural and religious factors scientific and technological factors habitat loss and degradation climate change pollution and excessive nutrient load over-exploitation and unsustainable use invasive alien species

Examples demographic change boom in the biofuels market; increased wealth driving increased consumption liquidation of natural capital to fund elections use of ivory in religious idols; belief that rhino horn cures cancer industrial-scale freezers on fishing vessels deforestation resulting from agricultural expansion increased ocean temperatures high levels of E.coli stemming from nonpoint source water pollution overfishing/wildlife poaching lionfish populations in the Caribbean

* Based on “A Standard Lexicon for Biodiversity Conservation: Unified Classifications of Threats and Actions.”

Drivers are also known as “contributing factors/indirect threats/root causes/drivers” (“A Standard Lexicon for Biodiversity Conservation: Unified Classifications of Threats and Actions;” “indirect drivers” (CBD Global Outlook 2, CBD Global Outlook 3, and MEA 2005); and “underlying causes” (CBD Global Outlook 3).

** Based on “A Standard Lexicon for Biodiversity Conservation: Unified Classifications of Threats and Actions.”

Threats are also known as “direct drivers” (CBD Global Outlook 2, CBD Global Outlook 3, MEA 2005) and “direct threats, sources of stress, and proximate pressures” (“A Standard Lexicon for Biodiversity Conservation: Unified Classifications of Threats and Actions,” and The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species).

http://www. conservationmeasures.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Classification-of-threats-and-actions.pdf http://www. conservationmeasures.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Classification-of-threats-and-actions.pdf http://www. conservationmeasures.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Classification-of-threats-and-actions.pdf http://www. conservationmeasures.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Classification-of-threats-and-actions.pdf http://www. conservationmeasures.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Classification-of-threats-and-actions.pdf http://www.iucnredlist.org/documents/Dec_2012_Guidance_Threats_Classi-fication_Scheme.pdf http://www.iucnredlist.org/documents/Dec_2012_Guidance_Threats_Classi-fication_Scheme.pdf

Threats interact in ways that magnify their impacts.

Climate change, for instance, is a dramatic threat that not only creates its own direct impacts (e.g., increased ocean acidity, stress from temperature fluctuations, increased drought, and glacier melting) but also exacerbates impacts from other threats, particularly from invasive species, fire, and fragmentation.

There are also a variety of barriers to effective conservation, including the presence and degree of institutional capacity, policies and their implementation, scientific understanding, stakeholder engagement and support, economic incentives, and financing for conservation.27 These factors can act as barriers to producing durable conservation results and need to be considered along with biodiversity threats and drivers.

Photo: Rhett A. Butler/mongabay.com Expanding oil palm cultivation is a global driver of tropical forest loss.

Wildlife trafficking is reaching epic proportions – measuring billions of dollars a year and threatening the survival of iconic species such as elephants, rhinos, tigers, sharks, and sea turtles. Demand for wildlife parts and products has rapidly increased in recent years, driven in part by increasing incomes in Asian countries that have attracted the transnational criminal networks that have helped to make wildlife trafficking the fourth-largest illicit trade in the world.

Wildlife trafficking threatens national and regional security, undermines economic development, and impacts public and ecosystem health.

Wildlife trafficking has become more organized, more lucrative, and more technologically advanced than ever before. Park rangers and resource managers must patrol vast areas and are often out-manned and out-gunned by poachers, who employ warlike hunting techniques that include helicopters, night-vision goggles, and a variety of weaponry from guns to poisons, traps, and machetes. Customs and border officials are often ill equipped to meet the challenges of increasing illegal trade, and wildlife products move with ease across porous borders and over oceans, transported in hidden compartments or mislabeled to escape detection. Corruption is a major impediment to stopping wildlife crime. President Obama signed an Executive Order in July 2013 to combat wildlife trafficking that will mobilize the U.S.

Government to address this important challenge.

BOX 5: ANATOMY OF A THREAT: WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING

Photo: ©Operation Cobra Inspectors sort ivory confiscated in Nairobi, Kenya, during a transregional operation to counter wildlife trafficking.

USAID’S EXPERIENCE IN

ADDRESSING BIODIVERSITY

CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT

USAID is a development agency with a robust biodiversity portfolio. Historically, the U.S. Congress provides funds for biodiversity conservation, with a priority of conserving biodiversity of national importance and global public good. U.S. legislation also mandates that USAID take actions that support conservation and sustainable management of tropical forests28 and has directed the Agency to give high priority to preventing biodiversity loss.29 All USAID development programs, projects, and activities must also follow Title 22, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 216 (22 CFR 216) environmental impact assessment procedures, which consider the environmental impacts, including impacts on biodiversity, of these development investments.

USAID’s approach to conservation has evolved since the 1980s, from programs that primarily focused on protected-area management to programs that implement biodiversity conservation across large landscapes and seascapes; provide essential ecosystem goods and services for development at the local and national levels; and integrate with other sectors, such as health, agriculture, and governance.30 (See Box 6: Contributions of Forest Governance to Development in Nepal.)

USAID’s programs are comprehensive. USAID looks at the big picture to achieve site- and species-based conservation gains at various scales and recognizes that sustainability is dependent on a supportive enabling environment for conservation that includes the availability, integrity, and use of information;

effective laws and policies; capable institutions;

supportive economic conditions and incentives;

a strong constituency for conservation; and a commitment to promoting social soundness, gender equity and women’s empowerment, and the rights of indigenous peoples.

Looking to the future, USAID is increasingly focused on addressing persistent conservation and development challenges that include expanding development of agricultural commodities such as oil palm, rubber, and pulpwood species; expansion of artisanal and industrial-scale mining; reconciliation of new physical infrastructure development with the need to retain functioning natural infrastructure; and combating international wildlife and timber trafficking.

Throughout Nepal’s civil war, USAID supported communities in high-biodiversity regions of the country to improve the management and governance of forest resources and to develop environmentally sustainable livelihoods. Work with local Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) – a governance structure aimed at increasing local rights to forest resources and improving their management – continued despite challenging conditions during the violent conflict.

Beyond improved management of forest ecosystems, CFUGs provided economic and governance benefits where the government may have been weak or absent during the conflict. These benefits included increased transparency in decision making, decreased corruption, increased equity of benefits sharing, improved social networks, and economic empowerment of Dalit (low caste, marginalized) women. CFUGs provided a basis for post-conflict reconstruction and development once the war ended, and they continue to advocate for community rights and economic opportunities, both individually and collectively through the Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal.*

*See Tara Prasad Gnyawali, Sustainable Livelihoods: Building on Good Governance: A Case Study on Interlinkages between Conservation, Livelihoods, and Good Governance Practices in Dolpa, Nepal (Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal: World Wildlife Fund Nepal, 2007).

BOX 6: CONTRIBUTIONS OF FOREST GOVERNANCE TO DEVELOPMENT IN NEPAL

Photo: USAID-supported SCAPES program Community members participate in the assessment of red pandas in the Sacred Himalayan Landscape, Nepal.

Increasingly, communities manage their natural resources through forest user groups and anti-poaching patrols.

III. USAID’s Vision, Goals, and Objectives for Biodiversity Conservation

VISION: TO CONSERVE

BIODIVERSITY FOR SUSTAINABLE,

RESILIENT DEVELOPMENT

USAID envisions a future in which biodiversity thrives and human well-being increases through improvements in economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental stewardship.

GOALS

USAID will work toward two mutually reinforcing goals in pursuit of this vision: 1) conserve biodiversity in priority places, and 2) integrate biodiversity as an essential component of human development.

CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY IN

PRIORITY PLACES

In pursuit of this goal, USAID will focus on high-biodiversity-priority countries and regions where prospects are good for positive change and where the Agency can support host-country conservation and development efforts. USAID will support the conservation of priority sites, species, and genetic diversity; align biodiversity resources to contribute to national and regional development goals; and conserve biodiversity for the global public good. The Agency will undertake bilateral, transboundary, regional, and global programming, which can include in situ, site-specific conservation work; targeted, high-priority ex situ conservation activities;31 and efforts that address global and regional drivers of biodiversity loss, such as wildlife trafficking and illegal timber trade in priority places.

USAID has identified global priorities at the country and regional levels through a dynamic, data-driven process that takes into consideration technical and institutional criteria. This will steer how the Agency allocates funds and focuses efforts. At the regional and subnational level, USAID will make tactical and strategic decisions based on the best information available regarding biodiversity threats, drivers, and opportunities; host-government priorities; cost;

probability of success; and other contextual factors, such as how climate change may affect an area. The global prioritization process and the resulting country tiers are outlined in more detail in Section IV: Agenda for Change.

INTEGRATE BIODIVERSITY AS AN

ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF HUMAN

DEVELOPMENT

USAID will take steps to transform the relationship between biodiversity conservation and development to increase or sustain conservation and development outcomes. This will entail increasing understanding of how biodiversity and healthy ecosystems provide goods and services that can sustain development outcomes and how conservation investments yield development co-benefits; strengthening internal USAID systems and capacity to integrate biodiversity conservation with other development sectors; and using programs, partnerships, and policy engagement to link across sectors and inform understanding and management of trade-offs between conservation and other development goals. USAID will promote integration with key sectors such as agriculture, food security, climate change, health, democracy and governance, economic growth, and trade.

OBJECTIVES

To conserve biodiversity in priority places and to integrate biodiversity to advance human well-being, USAID will undertake work focused on six objectives:

1) support enabling conditions for biodiversity conservation;

2) reduce priority drivers and threats to biodiversity;

3) integrate conservation and development for improved biodiversity and development outcomes;

4) build partnerships to mobilize resources in support of biodiversity conservation;

5) influence key international policies in support of biodiversity conservation; and

6) apply science, technology, and learning to enhance biodiversity conservation practice.

1. SUPPORT ENABLING CONDITIONS FOR

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

Underlying social, economic, and legal conditions (or “enabling conditions”) can have a profound influence on governance; on power dynamics among stakeholders and their rights, use, and access to biodiversity; and on the ability to achieve and sustain conservation impact at scale. (See Box 7: Governance and Power in Conservation.) Conducive enabling conditions can address and counteract some of the key barriers to conservation, including lack of financial sustainability, corruption, and insecure land and resource tenure. Ensuring that enabling conditions are considered on relevant temporal (e.g., short-term gains vs. long-term impacts) and spatial scales (e.g., landscape scale or political units) will influence the extent to which biodiversity and development outcomes can be sustainably achieved. USAID will address legal and regulatory factors, accountable and capable institutions, economic factors, and constituencies for conservation.

Legal and Regulatory Factors: Some policies, legal frameworks, and government regulations can encourage the sustainable management of ecosystems (such as those enabling community rights, customary tenure, and management of forest resources), while others may drive biodiversity loss (such as those that incentivize clearing and settling forested land or perpetuate gender and social inequality). Even the best laws may be ineffectual due to a lack of capacity or will to implement and enforce them, or because of unintended negative

Governance is the process by which decisions are made and carried out through formal legal and regulatory systems and informal elements at many scales and sectors of society. Governance includes the rule of law, public-sector accountability, communication with citizens, anti-corruption measures, and the ability to deliver goods and services. Governance impacts the rights, use, and access to natural resources, making it a key leverage point for conservation action. Improvements in governance can also be a clear benefit of biodiversity activities.

Effective governance depends on the legitimacy, capacity, and power of the governance group. Aspects of legitimacy and capacity may influence the power of a group, and power often trumps formal governance systems or structures. Governing power impacts the use and access to biodiversity, and therefore has numerous dimensions and levels of operation, from the household to the global scale. There are overt and hidden dimensions of power; inequalities in power can be both real and perceived and are shaped by history, gender, culture, and social and economic factors. Improving governance involves understanding these inequalities and crafting strategies to enable stakeholders with different levels of power to work together in a way that does not harm the less powerful.

BOX 7: GOVERNANCE AND POWER IN CONSERVATION

Photo: Delphin King, Laikipia Wildlife Forum Schoolgirls in Kenya’s Laikipia District participate in reforestation efforts while learning about the importance of protecting natural resources.

consequences. Issues of transparency, accountability, corruption, and participation in the policy-development process may impact the legitimacy of laws and policies. Key laws and regulations to consider are not just those that are directly related to biodiversity, but also those that govern commodity markets, regulate infrastructure planning, and define tenure and property rights.

Accountable and Capable Institutions:

Investing in local-, regional-, and national-level actors and institutions to manage biodiversity resources effectively must be at the forefront of USAID’s efforts. Without effective institutions with capacity, authority, resources, and systems to govern, even the most well-written laws and policies will do little to conserve biodiversity. Transparent decision-making processes should be evidence based and include a broad range of stakeholders. Additionally, the articulation of trade-offs of various decisions, and a consideration of cumulative impacts of individual decisions, are signals of accountable and capable institutions and systems. Efforts to strengthen institutions and systems should be gender sensitive and socially inclusive.

Economic Factors: Markets, accounting systems, and financing have the potential to incentivize sustainable management and use of biodiversity for development or to hasten the exploitation of natural capital. Who stands to benefit and who will bear the cost of economic incentives and choices are important considerations for decision makers. USAID will employ a variety of market- and non-market-based measures to create economic conditions that safeguard and strengthen, rather than deplete, ecosystems; these include Payments for Environmental Services (PES) systems (see Box 8: Payment for Ecosystem Services in Vietnam), revenue sharing, and holistic cost-benefit/ effectiveness analysis and accounting.

Constituencies for Conservation: Conservation gains will only be sustainable if there is participation from informed constituencies. A strong constituency will include all groups within society, with special attention given to indigenous peoples, women, the disabled, and other traditionally excluded groups;

their inclusion promotes rights-based approaches, collective action, and stewardship. Some of the most profound biodiversity conservation impacts have been achieved through strong champions for conservation in government, communities, the private sector, and civil society organizations.

Religious and faith-based groups, for example, have been agents of change, effectively mobilizing to address such threats as climate change and wildlife trafficking. Some private-sector entities have made efforts to ensure sustainable sourcing of key natural inputs to their products by supporting more sustainable fishing and forestry practices.

Box 8: PAYMENT FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

IN VIETNAM

USAID supported the government of Vietnam to establish and implement a successful Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) pilot program, which led to the approval of a national decree on PFES.