NEWS
Burundi advances national Biodiversity Finance Plan as new governance bodies begin work
The country is progressing with key assessments and exploring finance solutions to support the implementation of its national biodiversity priorities.
Yemen
Yemen is home to diverse and globally significant ecosystems, from the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden coasts and marine habitats to mountain landscapes, drylands and the internationally recognized Socotra Archipelago. These ecosystems support livelihoods, food and water security, agriculture and fisheries, while strengthening resilience to climate change.
Years of conflict and economic pressures have placed increasing strain on Yemen’s natural resources while severely constraining the financing available for their conservation and sustainable management. Biodiversity finance relies heavily on internationally funded programmes and sectoral projects, alongside limited public resources. At the same time, local communities continue to play an important role through traditional conservation practices and community-based natural resource management.
Strengthening biodiversity finance is therefore closely connected to Yemen’s broader recovery and resilience. Better coordination across environment, finance, agriculture, water and other sectors, more effective use of available public resources, and diversified sources of environmental finance can help integrate nature into national development and recovery priorities.
UNDP BIOFIN is supporting the Ministry of Water and Environment, the Environmental Protection Authority and the Ministry of Finance to build the evidence and institutional foundations for this transition. Through the Policy and Institutional Review, Biodiversity Expenditure Review and Financial Needs Assessment, Yemen is assessing how biodiversity is currently financed, determining future financing needs and identifying opportunities for new and improved finance solutions. This work will inform the development of Yemen’s Biodiversity Finance Plan and support implementation of national biodiversity priorities and the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Finance solutions
Finance Solutions under consideration
As Yemen progresses through the BIOFIN assessments, several potential areas for strengthening biodiversity finance are being explored. These options remain at an early analytical stage and will be further assessed and prioritized through the development of the Biodiversity Finance Plan.
1. Mainstreaming Biodiversity into Public Budgeting
Explore ways to integrate biodiversity priorities and criteria into national and sectoral planning and budgeting processes. This could help ensure that available public resources better reflect Yemen’s biodiversity priorities and strengthen the links between environmental objectives and government expenditure.
2. Tracking Biodiversity Expenditure
Develop a systematic approach to identify, categorize and monitor biodiversity-related expenditure across government sectors and externally funded programmes. Better expenditure tracking would provide evidence on how biodiversity is currently financed and help inform future budgeting and resource mobilization.
3. Innovative and Market-Based Finance for Biodiversity
Assess the feasibility of innovative economic and financial instruments that could mobilize additional resources for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. Potential instruments would be evaluated according to Yemen’s institutional, economic and environmental context before being considered for implementation.
4. Strengthening Coordination for Biodiversity and Climate Finance
Strengthen coordination between environment, finance, agriculture, fisheries, water and other relevant sectors to better align biodiversity, climate and financial planning. Improved coordination could help identify synergies, reduce fragmentation and make more effective use of limited financial resources.
Key results
- Targets for Increasing Budget Allocations: Establish a baseline for national environmental spending to systematically identify funding gaps, with the ultimate goal of securing increased, targeted public resource allocations and dedicated donor funding lines for critical biodiversity conservation zones.
- Policy and Legal Reforms: Mainstream biodiversity finance priorities directly into ongoing national sustainability agendas, institutional strategies, and post-conference national climate action roadmaps to ensure long-term policy alignment and regulatory cohesion across environmental sectors.
- Institutional Changes and Finance Mechanisms under Development: Form and activate a high-level National Steering Committee led by the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE), the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), and the Ministry of Finance. This institutional structure secures cross-sectoral ownership and provides the administrative platform necessary to design and launch future innovative financial instruments, such as environmental funds and tracking systems.
Key documents
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