Botswana

Botswana is endowed with stocks of natural resources; minerals, energy, protected areas, crops, pastureland and non-timber forest products, which account for one-third of the country’s total wealth and underpin several important contributions that drive the economy such as nature-based tourism, mining and agricultural activities. Tourism is a significant contributor to the country’s economy (7.5% contribution in 2008 and 8.5% in 2014, expected to rise to 10.5 % in 2025 (www.wttc.org) and drives the need to strengthen conservation efforts in biodiversity. BIOFIN in Botswana seeks to facilitate for increased investments on biodiversity and close the resource gap.

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Prioritised Finance Solutions

CSR Act and regulations
Eco certification (development of guidelines and standards)
Consolidation of environmental funds, and strengthening the National Environment Fund
Green banking (development of sustainability standards in the financial sector)

Progress Reports

Policy and Institutional Review (PIR)

The PIR has been completed and is being readied for publishing. The process included a review of the policies, legal instruments and institutional set ups for biodiversity financing. Through the PIR, Botswana has been able to identify the priority sectors of focus for BIOFIN as well as recommendations of some of the finance solutions for consideration. Good policies and strategies are in place to guide the processes, however, weak institutional mechanisms to support implementation, fragmented responsibilities, and resource inadequacies, centralised decision making which also results in the resource burden on the side of government.

Expenditure Review (BER)

The BER has been completed and is being readied for printing and publishing. A review of the public and private biodiversity related expenditures were as done. However, due to data gaps the results could not be used to calculate the finance gap, as they are incomparable with the BSAP as it is not comprehensive.

Needs Assessment (FNA)

The FNA has been completed is being readied for printing and publishing. Using the BIOFIN methodology, the BSAP actions have been costed. The cost of the BSAP is therefore regarded as the finance gap.

Finance Plan (BFP)

Undertaking development and prioritisation of finance solutions. An inventory of about 60 existing and possible solutions has been done and these are being detailed so as to inform the prioritisation process.