National | PANORAMA

South America

GOOD PRACTICES FOR THE HANDLING AND RELEASE OF SENSITIVE SPECIES INTERACTING WITH THE TUNA PURSE SEINE FISHERY

Guillermo

Morán

Cooperation with tuna stock assessment models

Development of biodegradable and non-meshing Fish aggregating devices (FADs)

Strengthen on-board monitoring in 100% of the fleet and Data Collection throughout the fleet

Participatory Management, Training and Awareness

Multisectoral Collaboration

Implementation of Codes of Good Practice

Cooperation for the conservation of marine protected areas.

Nationwide capacity-building and awareness-raising for environmental budgets’ planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting

Lastly, this solution has included capacity-building activities and awareness-raising meetings across all 21 provinces and the capital since 2022. For capacity-building, trainings have been provided online and in-person, while forums and workshops were also organized for broader discussions. Awareness-raising meetings have targeted specific local decision-makers and have been conducted in-person.

The objective of these activities is to equip local actors with the knowledge and skills needed for environmental management and budgeting aligned with the NRUF, through exercises on planning, execution reporting, and monitoring and evaluation of local environmental budgets. Trainings have also focused on the Environmental Budget and Expenditure Database, helping local governments to disclose their information and improving data-driven planning and decision-making.

Moreover, UNDP BIOFIN is working with the government of Mongolia in the development of an expenditure taxonomy, which will provide a standardized categorization of environmental expenditures, adding clarity and consistency to budget reporting.

Key enabling factors include sufficient time, personnel, and funding to conduct a variety of trainings, workshops, and meetings at the local level. The development of easy-to-understand materials, knowledge products, and supporting activities is also an essential factor.

Trainings and workshops should focus on translating complex information into clear and actionable messages. This is crucial to ensure their effectiveness and address the main challenge of legal complexity and ambiguity in the context of the NRUF. Practical components, such as hands-on activities, further support the achievement of learning outcomes by reflecting what local actors will have to do, in practice, when defining and reporting their budgets. Finally, trainings and workshops should be tailored to specific audiences. Since local governments are responsible for implementing the NRUF, and each province has unique opportunities and constraints, it is effective to provide separate trainings for individual local governments rather than solely aggregating all personal at a higher level.

Developing a public database to track biodiversity finance, improve accountability, and ensure that governments’ expenditure responsibilities are met

A public Environmental Budget and Expenditure database was developed to disclose environmental budgets and expenditures (since 2023). Its intuitive and visual layout allows users to track how much each province has spent on biodiversity each year. This has two main implications.

First, by having to thoroughly fill the database, local governments can use it as a tool to better understand how to develop their own environmental budgets and clarifying which categories should be included.

Second, the public database promotes accountability and transparency in environmental planning and budgeting, encouraging governments to fulfill their biodiversity finance responsibilities under the NRUF and, ultimately, functioning as an effective monitoring tool.

Technical capacity and funding for the development, implementation, and maintenance of the database; local governments’ understanding of the database and commitment to disclose their environmental budgets and expenditures.

Beyond legal responsibilities, monitoring and accountability tools (such as publicly available databases) can create additional incentives for enforcing biodiversity expenditure laws. These tools offer a practical way to translate disaggregated information into an easily accessible format for tracking biodiversity finance. It is important, however, that the development of these tools is accompanied by efforts to raise awareness of their existence, ensuring they are effectively used to monitor progress and support law enforcement.

Implementation

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

Subnational

National

https://finance.eic.mn/

Enhancing regulation and strengthening cooperation across government levels for effective law enforcement

BIOFIN and the National Audit Office of Mongolia jointly assessed the implementation level of the NRUF and examined institutional and regulatory gaps affecting law enforcement. The review found that weak enforcement resulted from legal ambiguities, inconsistent regulations, and ineffective coordination among government agencies. Following this process, BIOFIN provided technical assistance to develop revised regulations that address these legal ambiguities.

Beyond regulatory enhancements, a fundamental component was strengthening cooperation and communication between government agencies — ensuring that the NRUF and its revised regulations are understood and effectively implemented. This is particularly important since local governments are responsible for incorporating the NRUF, a national law, into their budget processes. To support this, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) began to issue bi-annual budget call circulars: official instructions that explain the procedures to prepare next fiscal year’s budget, helping local governments to incorporate biodiversity expenditures. The MoF also increased efforts to review and approve dedicated budgets for environmental protection and natural resource rehabilitation.

Enabling factors include mutual understanding among government agencies of the interconnectedness of biodiversity finance procedures and a willingness to cooperate. Support from biodiversity finance specialists, particularly the BIOFIN team, was also critical in identifying gaps in regulations and coordination, and in effectively supporting the development of solutions to address them.

A key lesson learned from this building block is that cooperation and communication can bridge the gap between biodiversity finance law and practice, in combination with clear regulations that support enforcement. Although the NRUF was approved in 2012, these inconsistencies have prevented the law from achieving its intended outcomes.

While the NRUF is specific to Mongolia, the replicability of this building block goes beyond that. It consists of the fact that biodiversity finance is an inherently interconnected matter, and government solutions typically involve multiple agencies at different levels, from finance departments to environmental sectors. This building block shows that other governments-national, regional, or local — seeking to strengthen biodiversity finance through laws and regulations must give equal attention to governance structures, cooperation mechanisms, and regular communication and guideline tools, such as the bi-annual call circulars.

https://finance.eic.mn/

East Asia

Protecting the beautiful home of the southernmost Yunnan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana)

磊

阿

Yunnan Yunlong Tianchi National Nature Reserve

East Asia

Chinese Giant Salamander Conservation and Population Restoration Techniques

Cheng

Wang

Breeding area mimicking wild habitat environment

Breeding and Husbandry Techniques for the Chinese Giant Salamander (Andrias davidianus)

Continuity and Operational Framework of the CSTF

The CSTF facilitates regular meetings to discuss FLR and SFA strategies, action plans, and project monitoring. The CSTF performs a range of tasks to coordinate FLR and Sustainable Food and Agriculture (SFA) efforts across Rwanda. It provides strategic policy and management guidance, makes decisions to align initiatives with national policies, and resolves operational challenges. The taskforce reviews action plans, budgets, and major reports, such as annual results and mid-term reviews, to ensure sustainability and quality control. It also identifies funding opportunities to support scaling FLR and SFA initiatives, enhances coordination among stakeholders, and facilitates discussions on new project plans. In addition, the CSTF ensures effective knowledge sharing, develops strategies for improving environmental, social, and economic sustainability, and reviews stakeholder engagement to maximize the involvement of private sector actors and other partners. The taskforce also coordinates efforts to address strategic changes and ensures that restoration activities meet national and international goals.

Regular meetings allow stakeholders to review and align their plans.
Mechanisms for sharing project reports, mid-term reviews, and evaluations.
Strategic decision-making on policy and governance structures.

An effective operational framework allows for better alignment of stakeholder activities and helps address challenges in a timely manner.

National

Rotating leadership and joint governance

The CSTF operates under a governance structure that ensures leadership rotation and collaboration across sectors. Meetings are chaired alternately by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, with support from development partners for logistical and organizational tasks. This leadership structure strengthens the coordination of FLR and Sustainable Food and Agriculture (SFA) initiatives and ensures that restoration initiatives align with broader national development strategies, such as the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) and Vision 2050, while meeting international targets like the AFR100 and Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

Rotating chairmanship between the two key ministries enhances shared leadership.
Development partners, such as IUCN, provide organizational support.
Annual and bi-annual meetings enable consistent progress evaluation.

A rotating leadership model promotes shared ownership and enhances the taskforce’s ability to align its efforts with evolving national and international priorities.

National

Establishing an inclusive and multi-sectoral taskforce

The CSTF was established in 2015 as a national-level platform to coordinate Rwanda’s response to the Bonn Challenge and improve Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) efforts. It comprised members from 13 government bodies, 8 civil society organizations, 7 development partners, and 7 private sector and research organizations. The taskforce provides a space for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and strategic planning to address key issues such as land degradation, deforestation, erosion, and biodiversity loss.

Strong governmental support from the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Agriculture.
Broad representation of stakeholders across multiple sectors ensures diverse perspectives.
Support from development partners, who have acted as secreteriat to support the political partners

The formation of a dedicated, multi-stakeholder taskforce ensures that FLR efforts are inclusive, coordinated, and aligned with national and international restoration goals.

Implementation

National