The Biodiversity Management Bureau (formerly PAWB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has obtained a financial grant from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme for the implementation of the project entitled “Partnerships for Biodiversity Conservation: Mainstreaming in Local Agricultural Landscapes”, otherwise known as the Biodiv
ersity Partnerships Projects (BPP)”. The BPP is in recognition of the need to address habitat fragmentation brought about by inadequate policies, tools and capacities to encourage the participation of local government units in mainstreaming biodiversity conservation in local agricultural landscapes. The key intention of this project, therefore, is to increase the capacity of the LGUs to mainstream biodiversity conservation in production landscapes/seascapes geared towards the protection and enhancement of the quality of the environment and the sustainable management of the natural resources. The BPP involves a three-pronged approach that would strengthen the enabling policies at the national level; enhance capacities of LGUs, and field level demonstration of improved capacities in selected pilot sites. These objectives would be achieved through partnerships with national government agencies, the LGUs, and national and local conservation NGOs, to muster their resources and expertise. There would be three major outcomes envisaged from this project, as follows:
• Outcome 1: National-level systems, policies, tools and capacities are in place to support LGU level biodiversity conservation efforts.
• Outcome 2: LGUs encompassing 1.6 Million hectares in five key biogeographic regions have the tools and capacities to integrate sustainable management into decentralized government structures.
• Outcome 3: Systems, policies, tools and capacities for landscape level biodiversity conservation and sustainable development are applied at eight pilot sites covering 700,000 hectares across five critical biogeographic regions (Luzon, Palawan, Negros-Panay, Mindoro and Mindanao). The project is implemented by the BMB of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in partnership with concerned national government agencies, the local government units, non-government organizations, local and indigenous people’s communities, and other stakeholders.
