This step is to compile and revisit all necessary baseline information. This is essential to ensure the Finance Plan builds on the comprehensive assessments produced by BIOFIN and additional relevant sources. It should result in a preliminary list of existing financial instruments and potential finance solutions, approximately between 100 and 200 entries. This process aims to identify and elaborate information that can be used to develop a powerful and technically accurate BFP. Specifically, these solutions feed into the following sections of the BFP:

• Framing a clear national vision for biodiversity in the context of the SDGs and national development agenda, to which the plan contributes;

• Identifying entry points to engage decision makers, company leaders, and other interest groups to build a critical mass of support for the Plan;

• Building the case for investment in biodiversity and the finance plan itself;

• Clarifying financing needs to match the estimated financial contribution of the Plan’s finance solutions;

• And, perhaps most important, creating a comprehensive list of existing finance instruments and potential solutions for prioritization.

The preceding assessments provide the following inputs: the PIR generates insights into key trends, drivers, subsidies, revenues, and existing finance instruments and mechanisms. The BER provides data on current sources and opportunities for expansion. The FNA includes information on existing finance for NBSAP and other biodiversity plans, and links available financing to specific financial needs. More specifically, the PIR includes a preliminary list of all existing finance instruments in the country. This list (Chapter 3) is essential in the formulation of finance solutions and should be carefully reviewed and updated. It can be elaborated with additional information such as finance sources.

The listing of existing financial instruments and other relevant tools and strategies from the PIR should be converted into a list of potential finance solutions, to be elaborated during Steps 6.2 and 6.3. The reviews of the PIR, BER, and FNA should allow for the identification of a wide range of existing challenges and corresponding opportunities for reforms of existing instruments and the design of new and innovative solutions.

This idea generation process takes various forms; for example, each fee, fine, permit, royalty, license listed in the PIR could be framed as a separate instrument and reviewed for possible improvements; and the description of the forestry sector may suggest solutions around concession bidding, stumpage fees. At this stage, entries can be listed such as “Increase stumpage fees for natural forest concessions to better capture value and price”. Care should be taken to list as many instruments and mechanisms as possible of all types – regulatory, market, fiscal, grants, debt/equity, and risks.

The list of existing finance instruments can be expanded with new ideas by examining the BIOFIN Finance Solutions Catalogue and the Finance Solutions for Sustainable Development Platform (see Box 6.3). The finance solutions mentioned in the Catalogue and Platform consist of generic descriptions that cannot be transposed directly into national finance solutions. They need to be firmly anchored and adapted into the specific national context, with much added detail. To include a potential finance solution in the list, it is essential to determine its function and specificity in a given context. For example, a green bond is featured as a solution to mobilize private capital in these platforms, but it cannot be included as such in the list of potential finance solutions. To be included, it needs to be contextualized, e.g. as ‘a green bond issued by Banco Nacional to finance past and future land acquisitions by the Protected Areas System in Costa Rica’ or ‘the development of an impact framework to measure biodiversity impact for Indonesian Green Sukuk.