1. SCOPING THE WORK ON BIODIVERSITY
UNDER GREEN ACTION TASK FORCE:
Current state on policies in EECCA
and ways forward for the Task Force
Agenda Item 6
12 May 2023
Background document
Biodiversity policies in EECCA - Current status and possible
ways forward for the GREEN Action Task Force
Takayoshi Kato, OECD
(with a significant input provided by Peep Mardiste, an external expert)

2. • Experience of EECCA countries in setting and implementing biodiversity
policies over the past 30 years and collaborating with development partners
• Recent adoption of Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
and possible implications for biodiversity policies in EECCA
• Emerging requests from members of GREEN Action Task Force (GATF) to
work on biodiversity within its work for 2023-24
• Longstanding wider OECD work on biodiversity
• Relevant GATF work under its current Programme of Work 2023-2024 (e.g.
water, climate, env. compliance/enforcement, Green Growth Indicators,
finance)
Context of the biodiversity session

3. • A range of policy and legal frameworks put in place
– e.g. Laws on protection of fauna and flora, water and land codes, policies on protected
areas, hunting and endangered, vulnerable and rare species.
– Some are from early 1990s.
• Governance arrangements also in place
– Mainly led by Environment ministries – often working with line ministries/agencies,
scientific bodies and local authorities (e.g. forestry, water)
– Environmental inspection agencies established at state and sub-national levels.
• Economic instruments for biodiversity conservation introduced in all EECCA
countries
– Permits/Charges for use of flora, hunting, fishing, etc.
– Tax exemptions and provision of soft loans for environmental protection, including
biodiversity
Policy Trends:
EECCA countries have continuously developed policy frameworks

4. • EECCA governments provide significant funding to biodiversity, while readily
available data is sparce.
– Gov of Georgia: 17.2 million USD in 2017
– Gov of Kazakhstan: 64.6 million USD on annual average from 2008 to 2018
– Both were larger than the amounts of provided development finance for biodiversity
[Sources: Biodiversity Finance Initiative]
• A range of development cooperation initiatives have been undertaken for
biodiversity in EECCA
– e.g. Nearly 500 biodiversity-related projects of various sizes in EECCA countries from
2017 to 2021 supported by development partners (avg. 43 million USD /year)
[Source: OECD DAC database]
Implementation support from public budget and
development cooperation initiatives

5. • CBD COP15 and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
– All EECCA countries participated, some announced pledges at HL segments
– Already all EECCA countries submitted National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans
(NBSAPs) under CBD
• EU frameworks informing EaP countries
– EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy
– European Green Deal
– EU Birds Directive, Habitats Directives, etc.
• Many of EECCA adopted various multilateral agreements relevant to
biodiversity
– Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
– Ramsar Convention
– Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), etc.
International processes and frameworks driving
biodiversity policies in EECCA

6. Challenges remain…
[Source: Authors based on the latest Environmental Performance Reviews by UNECE]
Technical challenges to biodiversity conservation in EECCA countries (based on UNECE EPRs)
(Unit: Number of
EECCA countries)

7. • Monitoring capacity needs to be improved
– Environmental/ecological monitoring systems need to be established/strengthened.
(e.g.) Poor forest monitoring in the region makes it difficult to assess the overuse of forests,
illegal logging and collection of fuelwoods
• Implementation and financing remain a significant challenge
– Implementation of management plans for protected areas have often not been financially
supported, undermining conservation activities.
– Revenues from economic instruments exist, but cover a minor part of the needed costs
– Allocation of public budget to biodiversity is often not a high priority.
• Data is insufficient, outdated and/or fragmented
– Insufficient inventories and outdated National Red Data Books
– Lack of biodiversity data inhibits evaluation of progress on management plans for biodiversity
– Information on how public budgets have been provided for biodiversity is also limited.
Challenges remain…

8. 1. What are challenges to developing, implementing and/or
supporting biodiversity-related policies in your countries / partner
countries?
2. Given many existing initiatives on biodiversity in the EECCA
region, what could be the value-added of the GATF work?
Discussion questions

9. • Developing good practice insights on the design and implementation of
policy instruments for biodiversity in EECCA
• Supporting development and implementation economic instruments for
biodiversity
• Analysis of public finance/subsidies harmful to biodiversity
• Analytical work on access to development finance for effective policy and
project interventions for biodiversity
• Evaluating approaches to mainstream biodiversity across economic
sectors and policy areas
• Identifying entry points to enhancing coherence between biodiversity and
other policy areas (e.g. climate, water, land-use, energy, etc.)
• Governance of protected area management
• Development of the business case for enhancing monitoring and
enforcement procedures;
Some ideas for discussion…