Eswatini
Eswatini’s biodiversity and ecosystems underpin key sectors of the economy, including agriculture, tourism, water and energy, while supporting rural livelihoods and climate resilience. Healthy ecosystems provide essential services such as water regulation, soil fertility and pollination, making biodiversity conservation an important economic and development priority as well as an environmental one.
Biodiversity finance currently comes primarily from government budgets, international cooperation and project-based conservation funding. However, these resources remain fragmented across sectors and institutions, creating a need for better expenditure tracking, coordination and more sustainable sources of finance for national biodiversity priorities.
UNDP BIOFIN is supporting the Government of Eswatini to build the evidence base for a more strategic approach to biodiversity finance. The Policy and Institutional Review, Biodiversity Expenditure Review and Finance Needs Assessment are underway to examine the policies and institutions influencing biodiversity finance, track existing expenditure and assess future financing needs.
These assessments will inform Eswatini’s Biodiversity Finance Plan, which will identify and prioritize practical finance solutions to improve the effectiveness of existing resources and mobilize additional public and private finance for biodiversity. The process is also supporting stronger integration of biodiversity into national planning, public financial management and Eswatini’s broader sustainable and green finance agenda.
No posts found.
Finance solutions
Eswatini is advancing several initiatives that can contribute to mobilizing and aligning finance for biodiversity. Through the BIOFIN process, these initiatives can inform the development of the country’s Biodiversity Finance Plan and help identify opportunities to scale public and private investment in nature.
1. Private-Sector Finance for Catchment Restoration
A Nature-Based Solutions pilot in the Lusushwana River Catchment, implemented through a partnership between UNDP and Coca-Cola Eswatini (CONCO), is mobilizing private-sector resources to remove invasive alien plants and restore catchment ecosystems. The initiative demonstrates how private investment can contribute to biodiversity conservation while strengthening water security and ecosystem resilience.
Stage: Pilot Implementation
2. Integrating Biodiversity into the Eswatini Green Finance Taxonomy
BIOFIN is exploring the integration of biodiversity considerations into the Eswatini Green Finance Taxonomy, helping connect national biodiversity priorities with the country's broader sustainable finance framework. This could strengthen the enabling environment for directing public and private investment towards nature-positive activities and projects.
Stage: Design and Institutional Integration
3. Payments for Ecosystem Services for Watershed Management
As part of a broader initiative to strengthen the resilience of agro-pastoral communities through integrated ecosystem and watershed management, Eswatini is exploring the development of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). The mechanism could create incentives for upstream communities and land managers to conserve and restore ecosystems that provide water and other services to downstream users.
Stage: Project and Finance-Mechanism Design
4. Green Bonds for Nature-Positive Investment
Eswatini’s emerging green bond framework provides a potential channel for mobilizing private capital for eligible environmental investments. Through links with the Green Finance Taxonomy and BIOFIN process, biodiversity and ecosystem restoration projects could potentially be incorporated into the pipeline of investments eligible for green finance.
Stage: Market Development
Key results
Establishing the Biodiversity Finance Evidence Base
Eswatini has launched its core BIOFIN assessments, including the Policy and Institutional Review, Biodiversity Expenditure Review and Finance Needs Assessment. Together, these assessments will provide evidence on existing biodiversity expenditure, financing needs, policies and institutions and inform the development of the Biodiversity Finance Plan.
Strengthening the Link between Biodiversity and Sustainable Finance
BIOFIN is working to strengthen the integration of biodiversity considerations into Eswatini’s broader sustainable finance agenda, including through links with the Eswatini Green Finance Taxonomy. This creates an opportunity to better connect biodiversity priorities with public and private investment.
Advancing Private-Sector Finance for Ecosystem Restoration
A UNDP partnership with Coca-Cola Eswatini (CONCO) is supporting a Nature-Based Solutions pilot in the Lusushwana River Catchment. Private-sector resources are being used to address invasive alien plants and support catchment restoration, demonstrating how business investment can contribute to biodiversity and water resilience.
Exploring Sustainable Finance for Watershed Management
Work is advancing on financing approaches for integrated ecosystem and watershed management, including the potential development of Payments for Ecosystem Services. These mechanisms could create longer-term incentives for ecosystem restoration and sustainable land management.