The Biodiversity Finance Initiative: An Approach to Identify and Implement Biodiversity-Centered Finance Solutions for Sustainable Development

Global biodiversity finance needs are on the order of $150 to $440 billion per year. The Biodiversity Finance Initiative—BIOFIN (www.biodiversityfinance.net)—is a global partnership addressing the biodiversity finance challenge in a comprehensive manner in order to identify and implement biodiversity-centered sustainable economic development solutions. BIOFIN provides an innovative accounting and finance approach, enabling countries to measure their current biodiversity expenditures, assess their financial needs and identify the most suitable finance solutions to achieve their stated national biodiversity targets and green, bio-based, sustainable economic development goals. The BIOFIN approach currently is piloted in 31 countries worldwide, including ten of the 17 most biodiverse countries in the world BIOFIN works primarily in support of strengthening the national biodiversity finance framework and closing the national finance gap for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. This chapter reviews the BIOFIN approach, including motivations and the business case for biodiversity investment, our theory of change, highlights some early country results, and the way forward for mainstreaming biodiversity into national policy and decision making and private sector engagement toward sustainable economic development goals.