Over 50 Countries to Design and Implement National Biodiversity Finance Plans with Support from BIOFIN and the Global Environment Facility

July 2025 — More than 50 countries have launched national biodiversity finance processes by mid-2025, with support from UNDP’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) and the Global Environment Facility’s (GEF). Progress marks a strong start for the 91 new countries that joined BIOFIN under the GEF-funded Global Biodiversity Finance Programme, bringing the total number of BIOFIN countries to over 130.

Since the start of onboarding in 2024, over 50 national coordinators have been appointed, and national consultations, workshops, and technical recruitment are now underway across most participating countries.

Launch events co-hosted by environment and finance ministries have already taken place in Armenia, Bangladesh, Burundi, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal, Haiti, Serbia, Tanzania, Pacific Island nations, Cameroon and more.

Strengthening capacities through peer learning and workshops

Newly joined countries benefit from the experience and expertise of BIOFIN’s first-wave countries, which have piloted and scaled biodiversity finance solutions since 2018. This peer-to-peer learning component is one of BIOFIN’s most powerful assets. New countries are not starting from scratch - they are joining a well-established global community. From crafting Biodiversity Finance Plans to applying finance solutions like ecological fiscal transfers or green bonds, the BIOFIN methodology has been continuously refined through real-world experience that new countries can now build upon.

In addition to peer learning, BIOFIN is investing in capacity development at the operational level. In 2025, PA Capacity Building Workshops were organized across three regions—Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America—to equip staff with the operational, financial, and technical skills needed to meet rising demands.

The 6^th Global Conference: a platform for learning and knowledge exchange

The 6th Global Conference on Biodiversity Finance, held in May 2025, brought together BIOFIN country teams, technical experts, donors, and partners for a week of learning and collaboration. The conference featured hands-on training sessions on finance solution design, strategic planning, and alignment with national development priorities.

A dedicated GEF Help Desk was established at the event to support the newly joined countries. It served as a key resource for national coordinators to better understand GEF policies, funding modalities, and reporting procedures. Jurgis Sapijanskas, Senior Biodiversity Specialist at the GEF, presented the funding processes and met country teams.

“The GEF is pleased to be working with BIOFIN to accelerate the actions that will close the biodiversity finance gap and help the world achieve the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework,” said Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility, in his keynote address. “Together we are helping governments realign financial flows and mobilize domestic resources for biodiversity, as well as ensuring that biodiversity is fully integrated into economic and development priorities and not treated as an afterthought.”

The BIOFIN model

The surge in activity reflects growing country commitment to close biodiversity finance gaps and implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Through the GEF funding for the Global Biodiversity Finance Programme, BIOFIN will support the 91 countries to design Biodiversity Finance Plans (BFPs) that identify and implement finance solutions such as green bonds, fiscal transfers, and realignment of public spending.

This new wave of countries brings BIOFIN’s global footprint to over 130 nations.

The initiative, launched in 2012, provides a step-by-step methodology including a Policy and Institutional Review (PIR), Biodiversity Expenditure Review (BER), and Financial Needs Assessment (FNA), forming the basis for each country’s national BFP.

Global recognition

At the Biodiversity COP16 in February 2025, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) formally endorsed National Biodiversity Finance Plans (BFPs) as a key enabling action to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The updated Resource Mobilization Strategy, adopted during the session, highlights the role of BFPs in helping countries mobilize biodiversity finance from all sources. The strategy also encourages increased support for UNDP’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN), recognizing its technical and strategic contribution in helping over 130 countries develop evidence-based finance plans to align national budgets and financial systems with global biodiversity goals.

The initiative’s track record includes catalyzing over US$1.6 billion in biodiversity finance in more than 40 countries since 2018. Recent examples include Zambia’s issuance of green bonds to support ecosystem restoration and Malaysia’s pioneering ecological fiscal transfer mechanism.

As implementation gathers pace, BIOFIN is entering its most ambitious phase yet—scaling efforts to help countries integrate biodiversity into national budgets, financial systems, and economic decision-making.