Peru

In the case of Peru, a megadiverse country, which is among the 7 countries with the greatest diversity, it has a high genetic variety as it is one of the world's centres of origin of agriculture and livestock, and, consequently, with important genetic resources of plants and animals.

Peru was one of the pioneer countries in the region. BIOFIN prioritizes three financial solutions: (i) increasing public-private investment for biodiversity, (ii) green finance and credit funds, and (iii) sustainable biodiversity bonds. Regarding the first solution, the environmental and agricultural sector is accompanied in the design and implementation of roadmaps and policy guidelines that allow regional and local governments, as well as the private sector, to have tools that facilitate and promote the formation of investment portfolios in projects related to ecosystems, species and support for the sustainable use of biodiversity through driving forces such as Invierte.pe, works for taxes and the mechanism of retribution for ecosystem services.

These actions have facilitated the training of more than 500 investment project formulators in natural infrastructure project formulation techniques at the national level and have promoted an articulated structure of actions that are encouraging the commitment of investments of around US$ 8 million with an emphasis on the recovery and conservation of ecosystems in the regions of Piura (3 prioritized projects) and Junín (1 project). Likewise, a potential portfolio of around 20 projects in sowing and harvesting water for an approximate amount of US$ 24 million in the Andean region is being designed. Read more at: https://www.BIOFIN.org/news-and-media/finance-solution-increasing-public-investment-biodiversity

In the context of the second and third financial solutions, sectoral funds and the financial sector play an important role in the transition to a green economy. BIOFIN has identified different opportunities to incorporate good environmental practices criteria in sectoral funds that promote the development and scalability of productive and innovative enterprises in a competitive manner, as is the case of the Agroideas Fund, which incorporated improvements in its financing instruments with a positive impact on biodiversity.  On the other hand, the microfinance sector of Cajas Municipales de Ahorro y Crédito is promoting the bio credit financial product to have lines aimed at financing sustainable production chains, and also to find a diversification of investments through future sustainable bond issues in the market.

BIOFIN has contributed to advocacy to improve knowledge on sustainable finance through an online training programme in coordination with the Peruvian Federation of Municipal Savings and Credit Banks, training more than 600 credit analysts nationwide, and assisting the banks, with other cooperation agencies, to achieve their goals of US$ 3 million in additional bio-credit to the agricultural sector by 2025. And with a vision of more financing options, BIOFIN developed a General Framework for Sustainable Bonds, based on ICMA standards, as a guide for newly labeled bond issues in the microfinance sector.