BIODIVERSITY Finance Initiative (Biofin) Philippines, one of the nodes of the biodiversity campaign of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has urged the Philippine government to practice biodiversity finance to achieve sustainable and judicious management of its natural resources.
Biodiversity financing is the practice of raising and managing capital and using financial incentives to support sustainable biodiversity management. This includes private and public financial resources used to conserve biodiversity, as well as investments in commercial activities that produce positive biodiversity outcomes and the value of the transactions in biodiversity-related markets such as habitat banking.
This is particularly important to the Philippines, one of 17 megadiverse countries with 228 recognized key biodiversity areas that are home to 855 globally important species of flora and fauna. The benefits and services that biodiversity provides cannot be overemphasized as Filipinos largely depend on it.
In his talk organized by Biofin Philippines, Colorado State University Professor and former Biofin Senior Technical Advisor Dr. Andrew Seidl pointed out the herculean task of pursuing biodiversity as it has to reckon with the enormous financial burdens of continuing research, the need to address threats posed by illegal fishing, reclamation, pollution, harvesting of corals and associated species, along with coral restoration procedures that need to be undertaken.
Seidl explained that Biofin promotes a methodology—applicable at both national and subnational levels—“that emphasizes policies and institutions [promoting or suppressing] economic drivers impacting on coral reefs, estimates expenditure patterns to detect policy alignment, and determines the major costs associated with coral reef management.”
Increasing budgets
APPLICATION of the Biofin methodology would appear to be working in Thailand, which applies island visitation fees and establishes a trust fund for Koh Tao Island. The Philippines is also currently working on increasing public-sector budgets, accessing earmarked funds and localizing the Biofin process.
Biofin Philippines Project Manager Annabelle Plantilla discussed harnessing resources for the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP) and provided details on the parties committing to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), of which the Philippines is a signatory to.
The PBSAP is the country’s road map to conserve its biodiversity and achieve its vision that by 2028, biodiversity is restored and rehabilitated, valued, effectively managed and secured, while maintaining ecosystem services to sustain healthy and resilient Filipino communities while delivering benefits to all.
Plantilla said the estimated cost of PBSAP implementation from 2015 to 2028 is P24 billion per year. Biofin Philippines underscored however that there is lot to be done as they found out that current government spend on biodiversity, including local units, is only P5 billion per year.
Closing the gap
“THIS leaves a huge financing gap that needs to be closed. Biofin contributes to closing this gap by identifying, accessing, combining and sequencing sources of biodiversity funding to meet national needs,” Biofin Philippines said in a statement.
“Going beyond providing government incentives, the UNDP believes in a more effective incentive when we encourage companies to do well and do good. Doing well, meaning seizing new business opportunities in the emerging green economy, and doing good in terms of aligning company objectives and activities to protect the wealth of resources we have in the Philippine biodiversity,” UNDP Philippines Country Director Titon Mitra stated.
Biofin Philippines also shared the methodology being applied at the subnational level in Mindoro, the payment for ecosystems’ services that work using the Koh Tao Island model, additional finance solutions, such as corporate giving, crowd funding and conservation license plates, as well as opportunities for non-Biofin countries to participate through regional nodes.