Botswana BFP Stakeholder engagement workshop

Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) Project Technical Reference Group kick started the first Screening process of the Biodiversity Finance Solutions compiled by the consultant Dr. Hugo Van Zyl. The reference group is made up of officials from Ministry Of Finance and Economic Development and Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism. The Global BIOFIN project Technical advisor Ms. Tracey Cumming was in attendance to proffer relevant advice to the team. The meeting was followed by a larger group comprising of the ( TRG ) (Technical Reference Group) and the PSC on the 9th October 2018, This was mainly to proceed with the next step of Screening and prioritization. An initial list was screened and prioritized down to 11 finance solutions. The final step on 11th October 2018 was to now subject the 11 solutions to other stakeholders for feather screening, prioritization and development. Lead implementing entities per finance solutions were also identified on the last day of the workshop. implement

The 11 finance solutions that will be developed further for the Biodiversity Finance Plan touches on several important environmental issues in Botswana, including supporting the expansion of ecotourism, reviewing the amount and use of protected areas entrance fees, improving the environmental Impact Assessment systems with the introduction of biodiversity offsets in to the mitigation hierarchy, greening of agricultural subsidies and control of invasive plant species such as Prosopis Glandulosa, Acacia species (Tortilis, Mellifera & Eroloba), Salvinia Molesta and the poisonous Dichapitalum Cymosum locally known as mogau.