7.1 Implementing the Biodiversity Finance Plan and finance solutions
Implementation is the stage where finance solutions become individual “projects,” each with its own targets, activities, and outputs. This phase typically lasts 5–10 years for the national programme (portfolio of projects) and 3–4 months to 5 years for individual finance solutions. The BIOFIN process structure replaces the conventional “project closure” with a focus on sustainability.
Key aspects of implementation
- Evolving role of the national team: The national BIOFIN team, or the designated implementation unit, shifts its focus from data collection and analysis to overseeing the design and implementation of specific finance solutions. In this role, it convenes discussions, promotes a shared vision, and sustains knowledge-sharing platforms.
- Systemic approach: Implementation must move beyond one-off interventions, such as feasibility studies or drafting legislation, to ensure that lessons learned from pilots are replicated and scaled up to inform institutional changes.
Four development stages of each finance solution
- Initiation and planning Gathering baseline data, assessing legal requirements and capacity, and conducting studies (like willingness-to-pay surveys) to validate the solution’s feasibility. Successful approaches include Thailand, Mexico, and the Philippines, which initiated finance solutions by applying localized versions of the BIOFIN methodology or by developing locally tailored biodiversity strategies. In Mexico, BIOFIN replicated the BER and PIR studies in states such as Jalisco and Guanajuato, using state-level biodiversity strategies to guide the development of dedicated financial-solution plans. In the Philippines, the provinces of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental developed their own localized NBSAPs and corresponding BFPs. Thailand applied a shortened BIOFIN methodology to estimate its financing gap and lay the groundwork for detailed finance-solution design.
- Development Drafting and adopting necessary legal documents, policies, and regulations, and ensuring adequate safeguards and M&E are built in.
- Implementation The phase of execution, which produces measurable finance results (generate revenue, deliver better, avoid future expenditures, realign finance), and/or policy and institutional results.
- Monitoring and evaluation Tracking progress against outcome and output targets throughout the solution’s life.
Examples of finance solution implementation
Low hanging fruits
Implementing policies that already exist but were not properly enforced. Botswana reviewed and updated protected area fees (not adjusted since 2000); Mongolia institutionalized Natural Resource Use Fees (NRUF), leading to an almost 75 percent increase in implementation. The Philippines successfully advocated for the passage of the Extended National Integrated Protected Areas (E-NIPAS) Act, securing increased annual budgets for protected areas. Kazakhstan revised its Protected Area Law in 2017 to strengthen PA management plans, resulting in a 20.5 percent average annual increase in PA budget funding.
Keep Conservation Heroes in their Jobs
BIOFIN launched campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic to support local communities and rangers who lost income due to tourism cessation. Campaigns in the Philippines, Thailand, Ecuador, and Costa Rica raised funds to replace lost income, supporting ranger patrols or alternative livelihood activities.
Subnational implementation
Finance solutions are replicated at the local level: Mexico supporting Guanajuato and Jalisco to improve public environmental fund management and establish a Green Investment Office (GIO); Guatemala benefiting municipal corporations through Results-Based Budgeting training; and Argentina developing two subnational BFPs institutionalized by the ministries of Finance of the provinces of Misiones and Chaco.
Payments for Environmental Services
BIOFIN built on Costa Rica’s pioneering PES programme and supported development of new PES schemes in countries like Colombia and Sri Lanka. Colombia mobilized $31.8 million for its district PES programme to protect strategic ecosystems providing water to Bogotá residents.
Ecological Fiscal Transfers
This mechanism redistributes state revenues to subnational levels based on ecological indicators. Malaysia adopted an EFT that resulted in a combined budget allocation of more than $31 million (by 2021) transferred to states for protecting and expanding forest reserves and PAs, with an overall budget allocation of $120 million for the 2019–2024 period.
Inclusivity and gender focus
Some finance solutions explicitly target gender and indigenous community empowerment. Examples include Costa Rica’s ‘More Women, More Nature’ programme, the Raíces Indigenous tourism incubator, and India’s use of Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) finance solutions to transfer benefits to women at the community level.
7.2 Integrating the BIOFIN process into governance structures
Institutionalization is critical for ensuring the longevity of results, often lasting 10–20 years. It aims to embed BIOFIN functions into government and private sector structures, moving beyond aid-based funding. It is pursued across three levels.
1. Policy framework
Amending formal documents (laws, plans, budgets) and implementing new policies. Examples include:
- Kazakhstan’s contribution to the consistent improvement of national legislation that resulted in introducing numerous legislative changes (revision of the new Environmental Code, introducing biodiversity offsets, ecotourism certification, PA management plans, forestry carbon offsets).
- Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines’ adoption of RBB guidelines or biodiversity indicators in governance awards.
- Zambia’s institutionalization of green-finance policy frameworks through the development and formal adoption of Green Bond Guidelines and listing rules, enabling the government’s first green bond issuances and embedding green finance mechanisms into the national capital-market system.
2. Organizational framework
Empowering national institutions by changing mandates, organizational charts, and creating dedicated organizational units. Seychelles, for instance, created a dedicated biodiversity finance unit to ensure resource mobilization and BFP coordination. In Belize, BIOFIN supported the creation of the National Biodiversity Office, embedding long-term capacity in the government. In Sri Lanka, BIOFIN supported the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) in establishing a Sustainable Tourism Unit (STU) in 2022, with dedicated staff and funding. The Ministry of Tourism also created district-level units attached to the STU. This new structure strengthens coordination of the national sustainable tourism certification scheme and expands the sector’s capacity to mobilize biodiversity finance.
3. Behaviour and perceptions
Anchoring success in the widespread support and belief of core stakeholders through awareness, capacity building, and managing resistance to change (the “institutional iceberg” concept). Tools like Perception Surveys and Political Economy Analysis (PEA) are used to understand and influence stakeholder views and power dynamics.
7.3 Applying safeguards
All finance solutions must consider social and environmental safeguards to prevent adverse impacts. Safeguards should recognize the role of biodiversity in local livelihoods and resilience and ensure the rights and effective participation of all stakeholders, including Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, often requiring prior informed consent. The application of safeguards, or promotion of standards that include biodiversity standards (like the Equator Principles), is considered a finance solution itself.
7.4 Monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
Each finance solution requires a unique M&E framework. The M&E system tracks progress through outcome targets and output targets (for example, draft legislation, budget proposals) and should include all intermediate steps to reflect the solution’s theory of change.
- Baseline and attribution: Baselines must be established, often using quantitative historical data. Attribution must be clear, especially when multiple partners contribute, to avoid double counting.
- Reporting and sustainability: Results should be reported throughout the solution’s effectiveness, sometimes extending for at least five years after project completion (ex-post monitoring). BIOFIN uses a tracking tool to monitor implementation across countries.
7.5 The future of biodiversity finance
The evidence so far
While the global finance gap remains daunting, the success of the BIOFIN countries — reporting over $2.7 billion catalyzed for nature globally — demonstrates strong outcomes achievable through national leadership.
Five axes for the future
- Scale up implementation Providing technical assistance to fully fund and implement finance solutions, especially in the 100 countries newly developing BFPs.
- Continue to institutionalize the plan and solutions Embedding BER (through budget tagging) and FNA into national planning and enhancing systemic screening of harmful subsidies.
- Periodically update the plan Ensuring permanent structures are in place to manage the portfolio of solutions beyond 2030.
- Expand the global community of practice Facilitating learning among countries on the over 150 types of financing solutions documented.
- Continue to develop the Workbook and tools Updating guidance on areas like climate change adaptation, mitigation, and gender equality.