| Overview : Botswana has been party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) since 1995. As a signatory to the convention, Botswana supports the CBD’s premise that biological diversity strengthens ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services essential for human well-being, and that its contribution to livelihoods gives it a key role in poverty reduction. The country formulated its first National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) in 2004 (revised in 2007) as a guiding tool for conservation and management of biodiversity and ecosystems. The NBSAP was reviewed (2014) to integrate global guidance contained in the CBD’s Strategic Plan (2011-2020) and the Aichi Targets agreed at the 2010 Nagoya Conference of Parties. As the overarching management tool at the national level, there is need to ensure that the NBSAP is effectively implemented. Given the pressing development priorities that Botswana faces, this requires innovative sources of funding for biodiversity management that can be sustained over the long term. To effectively utilize existing sources of finance and identify new innovative financing mechanisms, detailed national level finance assessments have been conducted to provide more robust information on the biodiversity finance gap. The Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) is designed to address the biodiversity finance challenge by building a sound business case for increased investments in the conservation and sustainable management of ecosystems and biodiversity. In light of the above, UNDP Botswana and other partners in the Initiative are seeking the services of a Financial Strategy Consultant, to lead the development and implementation of BIOFIN’s financial plan (Resource Mobilization Strategy) to cover the costs of the implementation of Botswana’s NBSAP. |
