The foremost document to review is the country’s national biodiversity plan (NBSAP). In most countries this is the only national policy document in place for biodiversity conservation, besides legislation. The plan is the main basis of determining biodiversity financing needs and the response formulated in the BFP.

The review should aim at answering the following questions:

• What is the formal status of the biodiversity plan, e.g. a formal policy, a strategic paper?
• At what level of government was the plan endorsed?
• Which stakeholders were leading the exercise or have been involved?
• Does the plan include a clear action plan with targets, indicators and actions?
• Is the plan comprehensive in tackling biodiversity challenges and framing the response?

It is equally important to scan the national development plan, other major policies (e.g. green growth strategy), most relevant legislation, sectoral strategies (e.g. forestry and agriculture) to verify which additional biodiversity goals exist that need to be considered, and to perceive how biodiversity is currently mainstreamed. The objective at this stage is not to critically review and assess these products but to broadly understand the context. The PIR (Ch. 3) will provide the opportunity to conduct a detailed screening of the same and additional documents.