Kazakhstan launches second phase of BIOFIN Global Initiative

Astana, 21 February 2019 – An inception workshop of the Biodiversity Finance Initiative - BIOFIN Phase II was held in Astana today. The United Nations Development Programme in Kazakhstan convened the workshop.

The financing of biodiversity is a practice of attracting and managing capital and using financial stimuli for the sustainable management of biodiversity. It includes both private and state financial resources which are used to preserve biodiversity, investments in commercial activities, which lead to positive results in the area of biodiversity.

"Sustainable development cannot be achieved unless we change the consumption approach to the approach which is aimed at conserving ecological systems and biodiversity. These principles are laid down in international conventions, agreements and programmes, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which Kazakhstan has signed," acting UNDP Resident Representative in Kazakhstan Vitalie Vremis told the workshop.

Studies which were conducted as part of the realisation of BIOFIN Phase I showed that the annual financial resources for biodiversity management fell short by over 50 per cent. In order to cover the funding gap, as part of the BIOFIN Phase II it is planned to pilot finance solutions, such as (1) strengthening PA management planning for improved financing, (2) introduction of biodiversity offsets as a formal instrument in Kazakhstan, (3) subsidizing game breeding to save animal species and develop hunting concessions, (4) tax incentives for ecotourism development, (5) attracting carbon offsets from the international market, multinational enterprises operating in the country, and (6) establishing an internal Emission Trading System (ETS) to integrate the mechanisms into the national legal framework. Kazakhstan joined the BIOFIN in 2013. BIOFIN in Kazakhstan is carried out thanks to financial support from the Swiss Government, the German Government and the European Union.