The BIOFIN project began its activities in Colombia in March 2015; hence, it joined the group of 30 beneficiary countries for this initiative, in which the Latin American group is composed of 10 countries.
Colombia is the most biodiverse country per square kilometer in the world. Biodiversity management affects the social and economic development of a large portion of the population; it is a matter of interest for the national economic policy due to its impact. The analysis and implementation of BIOFIN’s strategy in Colombia has allowed a detailed examination of past investments in protection, conservation, sustainable use of biodiversity, inclusion of sectorial policies and strategies for fair and social equitable distribution to determine tendencies, financing gaps and opportunities aimed at meeting the country’s goals for biodiversity and the AICHI biodiversity targets in a sustainable manner.
Our strategy
- To optimize the allocation of current public expenditure on biodiversity conservation.
- To improve the effectiveness of economic and financial instruments related to biodiversity management.
- To assess, facilitate and intensify the participation of the private sector in biodiversity management in the country.
- To innovate in financial and economic mechanisms that contribute to financial leverage of proposed goals.
- To articulate biodiversity finance with peace, green growth and climate change finance.
Strategic Achievements
- Consolidation of BIOFIN’s technical committee with the participation of: Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Ministry of Finance, National Planning Department, National Administrative Department of Statistics and National Environmental Licensing Authority.
- Design of a strategy and joint action plan between the BIOFIN project and the Readiness for Green Climate Fund within the framework of the Financial Management Committee of the National Climate Change System (SISCLIMA, acronym in Spanish).
- Proposal of economic analysis, financial valuation, and budget design, including the biodiversity variable of the first Colombian project to be presented to the Green Climate Fund).
- Participation in the construction of goals and indicators of the national baseline for Sustainable Development Goals (GDS), focusing on those directly associated with biodiversity.
- Connection and assessment of the economic benefits of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the construction of peace in Colombia.
Contacts
- John Bejarano | Project Coordinator | john.bejarano@undp.org
- Bayron Cubillos | National Accounts and Expenditure for Sustainability | bayron.cubillos@undp.org
- Carolina Herrera | Public Investment Projects | carolina.alexandra.herrera@undp.org
- Felipe Lesmes | Environmental Policy Advocacy | christian.felipe.lesmes@undp.org
- Mónica Carrero | Administrative and Financial Assistant | monica.carrero@undp.org
Prioritised Finance Solutions
National Biodiversity Offset
This project for the implementation of the national biodiversity offset Manual intends to identify experiences and opportunities to manage biodiversity in projects of electric-power transmission lines, roads, railway lines and flow lines in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, the National Association of Entrepreneurs and the National Association of Public Services and Communication Companies of Colombia (ANDESCO).
Restructuring of the Forest Incentive Certificate (Certificado de Incentivo Forestal - CIF)
This instrument aims at restructuring an economic tool created in the 1990s for the conservation of primary forests through a strategy of environmental service payment made by private individuals who hold conservation reserves. Restructuring of the CIF will be carried out in conjunction with the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Agricultural Financial Fund and the United Nations Collaborative Program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) in Colombia.
Strengthening the financial strategy of protected areas and National Natural Parks of Colombia.
The BIOFIN project will contribute to the financial strategy of National Natural Parks associated to the articulation for Regional Systems of Protected Areas with the Departments and Municipalities within the area of influence. The purpose of this strategy is targeting and generating better coordination as well as increasing both public and private expenditure on biodiversity conservation and management.
Incorporation of the Biodiversity Financing system into the Measuring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) System of Climate Financing for Colombia (including tracking of funding sources for international cooperation and public and private expenditures on Biodiversity).
The country’s MRV System of Climate Finance is currently under construction. We have established some communication with the National Planning Department and the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. They find it feasible to include the methodology to measure biodiversity expenditure in the system. This action contributes to creating a more strategic and comprehensive database of expenditure planning and resource seeking.
Identification and assessment of perverse incentives from the mining and energy sector in Colombia
This identification seeks to generate an adjustment to such existing incentives and develop a concrete proposal to be included in the Water and Biodiversity Strategy for the mining and energy sector. This proposal will be formulated this year.
Progress Reports
The following document provides an identification process of institutional actors nationally, regionally and locally. This process is to be set with the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan (NBSAP). It aims at promoting the construction of possible scenarios where actors can actively and positively be part of the biodiversity management process. Infographics were used to facilitate the understanding and relation of positive and negative factors, as well as actors. These infographics also contribute to summarize the analysis done.
Below you will find the review of Public Expenditure on Biodiversity in Colombia. It was made based on a tracking method of national public investing projects. This method works with selected and validated descriptors and uses an experimental logistic regression method.
On the other hand, the budget of 1.102 municipalities and 32 departments was analyzed in a subnational sphere using sequential codes from public expenditure review of such territorial entities with the classification method of expenditure identification. This method was used nationally and classified according to BIOFIN’s taxonomy.
On the basis of the foregoing, here are some strategic outcomes: annual investment in biodiversity is close to $243 million U.S. dollars, which represents 0.11% of the GDP, 0.49% of the national general budget and 22.9% of the public environmental expenditure of the country. These resources are allocated as follows: 38% for protection, 27% for restoration, 9% for sustainable use of biodiversity, 13% for incorporation, 12% for aplication and 1% for benefit participation.
The private sector invests an average of $30 million U.S. dollars at standard 2015 prices. According to expenditure classification of AICHI, expenditure has been allocated as follows: 27% for Restoration, 53% for Protection, 11.44% for incorporation of the biodiversity variable in other planning policies and instruments, and 9% for benefit participation.
Costing for the Biodiversity National Action Plan for the 2017-2030-period is calculated in $4.8 billion U.S. dollars. 85.9% of the investment will be allocated to axis 1 of the plan: biodiversity, nature conservation and protection. They are in line with the historic review of strategies showing that 77% of the resources were allocated to restoration and protection. The remaining 14% was allocated to the other five axes. The most representative axes are axis 3 (economic development) with 7.8% and axis 4 (research) with 5.2%.
According to macroeconomic assumptions of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, a comparison of the additional annual resources required and the business-as-usual scenario of the review, it is necessary to increase the average annual investment in $103 million U.S. dollars in order to cover the budget deficit estimated at $1.44 billion U.S. dollars and increase the average annual public expenditure on biodiversity in Colombia (2000/2015) from $240 million U.S. dollars to $447 million U.S. dollars (2017-2030),
BIOFIN in Colombia has an additional challenge: taking into account that the country is experiencing a process of economic, social and political transformation, many budgetary adjustments are affecting the annual amounts destined for biodiversity and environmental accounts in genera. The variability in oil prices, the depreciation of the national currency and the country's commitments associated with peacebuilding will imply additional efforts in public and private financing. On the other hand, Colombia is facing a situation of loss of biodiversity because of the decrease, loss or degradation of elements of native ecosystems and agroecosystems.
The Biodiversity Financial Plan was built by articulating three priority themes in the country's Development Agenda: 1) The consolidation of peace, 2) Green growth and 3) Finances of sustainable development (Climate Change and Biodiversity). The above in order to take advantage of the momentum that the National Agenda is giving to these issues, and where Biodiversity management plays a very important role in a transversal way.
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