The Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning and UNDP have launched the Biodiversity Finance Initiative in North Macedonia, beginning a process to identify the country’s biodiversity financing needs and develop practical solutions.

Representatives of government ministries, financial institutions, civil society and academia joined a national workshop in Skopje on 15 December 2025 to discuss how North Macedonia can build more reliable, long-term financing for nature.

Through UNDP BIOFIN, the country will carry out a Policy and Institutional Review, a Biodiversity Expenditure Review and a Financial Needs Assessment. Together, these studies will examine the policies shaping biodiversity finance, track current spending and estimate the resources needed to meet national conservation priorities.

The findings will inform a national Biodiversity Finance Plan. The plan will identify priority measures, potential finance solutions and the institutions responsible for taking them forward.

At the workshop, Igor Nikovski of the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning stressed the need to involve ministries, municipalities, public enterprises, businesses and civil society. Anna Chernyshova, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in North Macedonia, outlined how the planned assessments would provide the evidence needed to select suitable finance solutions.

North Macedonia’s biodiversity faces pressures from habitat loss, pollution, invasive species and climate change. By bringing finance and conservation planning together, the BIOFIN process aims to help the country move towards a more coordinated and sustainable way to fund nature protection. The assessments and finance plan are under development; the proposed finance solutions should not yet be presented as adopted.