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.
Prioritised Finance Solutions
- Increased Commercial use of Invasive plants
- Review and Appropriately adjust protected Areas entrance fees.
- Introduction of a sustainability standard and certification (Eco-label) system for beef products.
Progress Reports
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.
The BER has been completed is under review by Government for printing and publishing. Only review of the public biodiversity management related expenditures were done. However, due to data gaps the results could not be used to calculate the finance gap, as they are incomparable with the NBSAP. Efforts to finalize edits and incorporate data from NGO's and Private sector are also ongoing.
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.
An initial list of 29 finance solutions has been compiled and subjected to a three step Screening and prioritization process during the week 08th -12th October 2018. 11 solutions have been prioritized and currently technical proposals are being developed to a draft Botswana BFP. The process is expected to be complete by mid-December 2018.
11 finance solutions have been prioritized and technical proposals for all 11 solutions are developed to form part of the Botswana Biodiversity Finance Plan.
Knowledge Products
About Botswana
