International bodies
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Biodiversity Benefits People is a new, free-access online presentation and exhibition available from the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring centre website. Launched on International Biodiversity Day on 22 May 2004 the presentation is aimed at the wider public and takes the form of Microsoft Powerpoint slides accompanied by audio commentary. The presentation highlights examples where world's biodiversity is under threat. It adds that unless current losses are reversed, humans will lose access to what are known as 'environmental services', such as pollination or natural water purification, which themselves depend on the presence of a rich diversity of species and ecosystems.
The Conservation Finance Alliance is a network of the major international conservation NGOs, which aims to coordinate their efforts at obtaining funding for biodiversity projects. Their website provides details of news, events and training opportunities in conservation finance. The Alliance was established in 2002 and is based in Washington DC.
Conservation International is a US-based group set up in 1987 to work on habitat conservation and community participation in Bolivia, Costa Rica and Mexico. Later that year it also launched the world’s first debt-for-nature swap. Conservation International is a major player in world biodiversity science and politics and has convinced a number of governments to set aside land as protected areas, and was among the first groups to adopt the ‘hotspots’ concept of protecting areas with large numbers of threatened species. Together with the Ford Foundation, CI has set up the
Center for Environmental Leadership in Business, which promotes business practices that reduce industry’s ecological footprint and contribute to conservation.
This is the official website for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which was signed in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The convention aims to conserve biodiversity around the world; promote its sustainable use; and share its benefits equitably. The website provides access to all key documents on national and intergovernmental initiatives to slow down the loss of biodiversity. The website also provides information on national biodiversity reports, a useful
collection of case studies from around the world, contact information for national biodiversity officials, information/announcements and guidance on upcoming and past meetings. It is also the official website for the Biosafety Protocol.
The most commonly cited source of information on the protection of indigenous knowledge is the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It urges all governments to protect IK. This part of the website looks specifically at Article 8 (j) of the CBD which relates to traditional knowledge, innovations and practices.
This website publishes information about an international project that aims to design integrated conservation strategies to protect arid and semi-arid ecosystems by preventing and reducing degradation. It concentrates on 18 desertification and degradation 'hotspots' around the world, including Cape Verde, Chile, and Morocco. The website publishes information about research sites, reports and partners, including a dedicated information system, and links to a library of related organisations and upcoming events.
Part of the UN Development Programme, the Environment and Energy group work in six areas: water governance, frameworks and strategies for sustainable development, sustainable energy, sustainable land management, biodiversity and chemicals management.
The group publishes information on its projects in each of these areas as well case study analyses, policy papers, toolkits for practitioners, press information and links to external websites.
This series of six $30,000 prizes rewards projects that alleviate poverty through biodiversity conservation throughout the world. The initiative is part of a new effort by the United Nations Development Programme to integrate conservation issues more closely into development planning and finance.
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility is an international, government-funded initiative focused on providing free and open access to biodiversity data online for scientific research, conservation and sustainable development.
The website provides an Internet-based index of primary biodiversity data, such as museum specimens and field observations of plants and animals in nature; community-developed tools for formatting and sharing data; and capacity building through training, including access to international experts and mentoring programmes. The website links to relevant reports and news, and publishes information in different languages including English, Chinese and Korean.
The Global Environment Facility is the official UN funding mechanism for environmental projects in the developing world, with most of the funds coming from developed countries. The facility is based in the offices of the World Bank in Washington DC, one of GEF’s three implementing agencies. The other two are the UN Development Programme and the UN Environment Programme. GEF’s website provides information on current projects and gives guidance on how to apply for funds. Funding is based on the principle of incremental costs - the difference in costs between a more polluting project, and an environmentally-friendlier but more expensive one.
IELRC is an independent, non-profit research organisation based in Geneva that focuses on international and comparative environmental law issues, particularly in India and East Africa. The centre seeks to promote sustainable patterns of world development through collaborative research, policy studies, teaching, consensus building and public information, and includes programmes on biodiversity, climate change and intellectual property.
UPOV is an intergovernmental organisation with 52 member states, with headquarters in Geneva. Established in 1961, UPOV aims to provide and promote an effective system of plant variety protection, with the aim of encouraging the development of new varieties of plants, for the benefit of society.
This is a single page of links to agriculture and environment-related information, hosted by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. When it comes to land degradation, the organisation is mostly concerned with developing numerical indicators in areas such as biological diversity, soil erosion, and farm management.
The Packard Foundation provides grants to non-profit organisations in the areas of: conservation and science; population; and children, families, and communities. In recent years the foundation has awarded some US$200 million annually in grants. Click here for more information on the foundation's funding programmes.
The United Nations Millennium Project was established by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to recommend ways of achieving a target to reduce the number of people living in poverty before 2015. The project is divided into 10 task forces, and led by Jeffrey Sachs, a special advisor to Annan and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Task Force 6 is responsible for environmental sustainability, which includes biodiversity conservation.
IUCN is among the oldest, best-known and politically-savvy of all the international conservation groups. Founded in 1948 its members include 75 states, 750 NGOs and 10,000 scientists. The union has a staff of 1000 in its Switzerland secretariat and field offices around the world. Its programmes include advising UN conventions and individual countries on biodiversity management and monitoring the state of species through its famous Red Lists. It is particularly strong in developing countries where environment ministries often rely on IUCN resources and expertise to help implement programmes and projects. It is funded by a wide range of donors including individual governments, multilateral organisations and foundations.
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