World Bank (Washington, DC)
18 May 2004
Washington, DC — The World Bank Board of Directors today agreed that the Bank will manage the implementation of the C.A.P.E. Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development Project in South Africa to the tune of a US$9 million grant drawn from a total grant of US$11.32 million approved by the Council of Global Environment Facility (GEF) in May 2003. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is involved with implementing the remaining part of the grant.
The Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development Project will support South Africa's efforts to conserve the Cape Floristic Region, the smallest and most threatened floral regions of the world. It will build on the very successful Cape Strategy and Action Plan (C.A.P.E.) which was developed with GEF resources through the World Bank in 2000.
"Since September 2000, considerable progress has been made by local partners involved with C.A.P.E.; a robust partnership has been developed at the highest level of government and the various agencies have aligned their work programs and budgets to the implementation of C.A.P.E.", acknowledged Christopher James Warner, the World Bank's Task Team Leader for the project.
The project also forms a part of a 20-year program of the South African Government implemented by the South African National Botanical Institute to conserve this unique resource in a manner which will support the further development of the region's nature-based economy. It will support agencies to pilot new models for conserving these natural assets as well as mainstreaming conservation actions into normal economic activities and government programs.
The Cape Floristic Region (CFR), including its unique mountains, marine environment and wetlands provides important ecological services to the urban and rural economy. The conservation of water catchments, fishing resources, plant diversity and eco-tourism assets is critical to the economy of the area. The CFR region includes 1200 threatened plant species and marine resources as well as 148 private nature reserves, 43 conservancies, 36 natural heritage sites and two biosphere reserves of private land under conservation and management.
A particularly important issue to be addressed is the design of a system so that landowners and communities in ecologically important areas are rewarded for conserving biodiversity and environment assets. The model being advocated will bring private landowners into the conservation economy rather than for the State to purchase land for fenced off conservation areas.
"The project was acknowledged at the 2003 World Parks Congress in Durban as a leader in bioregional planning", said Trevor Sandwith, C.A.P.E. Coordinator, who hopes that lessons learnt from the project would not only be replicated in South Africa but also in other parts of the world.
Over its five and a half years lifespan, the project will leverage additional funding of some US$44 million from domestic resources into the conservation of the Cape Floristic Region, which has already received US$6 million from the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a mechanism for providing new and additional grant and concessional funding to meet the agreed incremental costs in achieving agreed global environmental benefits in the four focal areas - Climate change; Biological diversity; International waters; and Ozone layer depletion. GEF also supports the work of the global agreements to combat desertification and eliminate persistent organic pollutants.
The World Bank Group is one of GEF's implementing agencies and supports countries in preparing GEF co-financed projects and supervises their implementation. It plays the primary role in ensuring the development and management of investment projects. The Bank draws upon its investment experience in eligible countries to promote investment opportunities and to mobilize private sector, bilateral, multilateral, and other government and non-government sector resources that are consistent with GEF objectives and national sustainable development strategies. Since 1991, the World Bank Group has committed $1.52 billion in GEF resources and $2.25 billion in Bank group co-financing for GEF projects in 80 countries. In addition to GEF and Bank resources, it has mobilized additional co-financing of $5.48 billion from other donors.
For further information on Bank's GEF program, visit http://www.worldbank.org/gef
For further information on GEF, visit http://www.gefweb.org
For more information on the World Bank's work in South Africa visit: http://www.worldbank.org/afr/za
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