The World Bank and Conservation International (CI) signed an agreement on Friday for 20 million U.S. dollars in new funds, provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), to protect some of the world's most unique and threatened areas.

These biodiversity hotspots are home to more than half of all terrestrial plants and animals, as well as more than 1.8 billion people who are highly dependent on healthy lands for their livelihoods and well-being.

"The world's irreplaceable habitats, those which if lost locally will be gone globally, are mostly found in the biodiversity hotspots," said Monique Barbut, CEO and Chairperson of the GEF.

"This initiative is aggressively building the local institutions and the capacity of developing countries to manage and benefit from these high priority places," he added.

The funds will be made available as grants for projects undertaken by nongovernmental, community, and private sector organizations through the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), which is administered by CI. In its 7-year history, CEPF funding has enabled the protection of lands equal to an area the size of Portugal.

The new funding brings the total GEF commitment to CEPF to 45 million dollars. The money is pooled with contributions from CI and other global leaders in the partnership to create a biodiversity fund that unites expertise and resources to safeguard the hotspots.

Other partners are the French Development Agency, the government of Japan, the John D. and Catherine T. Mac Arthur Foundation, and the World Bank.
 
(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2008)