Article 20 - Financial resources

Release date	13/02/2006

Box LX.

Please describe for each of the following items the quantity of financial resources, both internal and external, that have been utilised, received or provided, as applicable, to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity, on an annual basis, since your country became a Party to the Convention.

a) Budgetary allocations by national and local Governments as well as different sectoral ministries
b) Extra-budgetary resources (identified by donor agencies)
c) Bilateral channels (identified by donor agencies)
d) Regional channels (identified by donor agencies)
e) Multilateral channels (identified by donor agencies)
f) Private sources (identified by donor agencies)
g) Resources generated through financial instruments, such as charges for use of biodiversity

Box LXI.

Please describe in detail below any major financing programmes, such as biodiversity trust funds or specific programmes that have been established in your country.

Flemish Region: during the period 1997-2003 there was a clear trend to allocate higher budgets for environment. Compared to other sectors the part for environment increased from 4.2% to 4.7%. From 2003 onwards the level decreased again to 4.3%. For the Nature and the Forest Division savings were important for the budget allocated for acquisition of land and management investments and for subsidies for land acquisition by NGO's.

For the theme Biodiversity in the MINA plan the budget varies from 139,601 Keuro in 2001 to 113,774 Keuro in 2005, indicating a decrease of 2.5%.A recent evaluation of the financial instruments used for specific Nature, Forest and Landscape Conservation programmes indicates following figures: of the 40 to 50 mio euro as a mean yearly budget 62% is spent for management actions, 21% for land acquisition and 15% for awareness rising, communication and educational programmes. In function of the stakeholder groups the figures indicate the following distribution: 50% for agricultural sector, 27% for nature NGO's, 7% for education and awareness centres and organisation, 5% for Regional Landscapes, 5% for forest owner groups, 2% for other private owners.

Boxes XLIX and L concern developing countries ('recipient' countries); for financial resources provided by Belgium to developing country parties, see question 138.

137.  On Article 20(1), has your country provided financial support and incentives to those national activities that are intended to achieve the objectives of the Convention?
a) No
b) Yes, incentives only (please provide a list of such incentives below)
c) Yes, financial support only
d) Yes, financial support and incentives (please provide details below)	X

Further comments on financial support and incentives provided.

Funding and incentives through all competent federal, regional and community departments.

The next question (138) is for DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

138. On Article 20(2), has your country provided new and additional financial resources to enable developing country Parties to meet the agreed incremental costs to them of implementing measures which fulfill the obligations of the Convention?
a) No
b) Yes (please indicate the amount, on an annual basis, of new and additional financial resources your country has provided)	X

Further comments on new and additional financial resources provided.

Most of the financial resources for developing countries are provided by the Belgian Development Cooperation of the Federal Ministry Foreign Affairs, either through direct bilateral cooperation or through third-party actors, such as NGO's, scientific institutions, universities or multilateral organisations.

Based on the 'Rio markers' in the ODA statistics that are provided to OECD/DAC on a yearly basis, the financial resources that Belgium has provided to help developing countries meet their commitments under the CBD or, more widely, to implement measures in favour of biodiversity, are the following (in EUR): 

	2001	2002	2003	2004
Relevance 2	1,112,576	843,360	1,507,496	1,157,162
% vs total development cooperation	0.19%	0.13%	0.23%	0.16%
Relevance 1	16,041,939	19,326,726	19,608,186	26,043,275
% vs total development cooperation	2.76%	2.92%	3.04%	3.63%

The score 'Relevance 2' (principal objective) means that biodiversity was an explicit objective of the activity and fundamental to its design. The score 'Relevance 1' (significant objective) means that biodiversity was an important, but secondary, objective of the activity. It has therefore to be assumed that only 'a fraction of it' was specifically targeted at biodiversity issues.

The next question (139) is for DEVELOPING COUNTRIES OR COUNTRIES WITH ECONOMIES IN TRANSITION

139. On Article 20(2), has your country received new and additional financial resources to enable it to meet the agreed full incremental costs of implementing measures which fulfill the obligations of the Convention?
a) No
b) Yes

140. Has your country established a process to monitor financial support to biodiversity, including support provided by the private sector? (decision V/11)
a) No
b) No, but procedures being established	X
c) Yes (please provide details below)

Further comments on processes to monitor financial support to biodiversity, including support provided by the private sector.

141. Has your country considered any measures like tax exemptions in national taxation systems to encourage financial support to biodiversity? (decision V/11)
a) No
b) No, but exemptions are under development (please provide details below)
c) Yes, exemptions are in place (please provide details below)	X

Further comments on tax exemptions for biodiversity-related donations.

Flemish Region: the tax exemption systems that have been introduced so far are the exemption of succession rights for forests and the exemption of succession rights and levy for real property for land in FEN. Forest owners receive subsidies for the development and implementation of forest management plans that are based on sustainable forest management.

142. Has your country reviewed national budgets and monetary policies, including the effectiveness of official development assistance allocated to biodiversity, with particular attention paid to positive incentives and their performance as well as perverse incentives and ways and means for their removal or mitigation? (decision VI/16)
a) No	X
b) No, but review is under way
c) Yes (please provide results of review below)

Further comments on review of national budgets and monetary policies, including the effectiveness of official development assistance.

This is foreseen through the cross-compliance system.

143. Is your country taking concrete actions to review and further integrate biodiversity considerations in the development and implementation of major international development initiatives, as well as in national sustainable development plans and relevant sectoral policies and plans? (decisions VI/16 and VII/21)
a) No
b) No, but review is under way
c) Yes, in some initiatives and plans (please provide details below)	X
d) Yes, in major initiatives and plans (please provide details below)

Further comments on review and integration of biodiversity considerations in relevant initiatives, policies and plans.

Flemish Region: in the framework of the Environment & Nature Policy Plan for 2004-2008, project-based actions are undertaken to integrate biodiversity considerations into the regional policy plans of the following sectors: transport, health, defense, water policy, agriculture. Similar actions are being developed at the Federal level.

144. Is your country enhancing the integration of biological diversity into the sectoral development and assistance programmes? (decision VII/21)
a) No
b) No, but relevant programmes are under development
c) Yes, into some sectoral development and assistance programmes (please provide details below)	X
d) Yes, into major sectoral development and assistance programmes (please provide details below)

Further comments on the integration of biodiversity into sectoral development and assistance programmes

Flemish Region: the Environment Policy Plan includes a part on 'Integration' that focuses on four main sectors for the plan period: agriculture, transport, health, water. For each of those, specific projects are being undertaken, taking into account biodiversity conservation and nature development. In the theme 'Biodiversity' specific actions include the development of protocols or cooperation agreements with other sectors such as with tourism and recreation, youth organisations, land owners organisation, agriculture, ministry of defence, transport for management and nature development of road and river verges, port authorities.

The next question (145) is for DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

145. Please indicate with an "X" in the table below in which area your country has provided financial support to developing countries and/or countries with economies in transition. Please elaborate in the space below if necessary.
A r e a s Support provided
a) Undertaking national or regional assessments within the framework of MEA (decision VI/8)
b) In-situ conservation (decision V/16)	X
c) Enhance national capacity to establish and maintain the mechanisms to protect traditional knowledge (decision VI/10)	X
d) Ex-situ conservation (decision V/26)	X
e) Implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (decision VI/9)	X
f) Implementation of the Bonn Guidelines (decision VI/24)
g) Implementation of programme of work on agricultural biodiversity (decision V/5)	X
h) Preparation of first report on the State of World's Animal Genetic Resources (decision VI/17)
i) Support to work of existing regional coordination mechanisms and development of regional and sub regional networks or processes (decision VI/27)	X
j) Development of partnerships and other means to provide the necessary support for the implementation of the programme of work on dry and subhumid lands biological diversity (decision VII/2)
k) Financial support for the operations of the Coordination Mechanism of the Global Taxonomy Initiative (decision VII/9)	X
l) Support to the implementation of the Action Plan on Capacity Building as contained in the annex to decision VII/19 (decision VII/19)	X
m) Support to the implementation of the programme of work on mountain biological diversity (decision VII/27)	X
n) Support to the implementation of the programme of work on protected areas (decision VII/28)	X
o) Support to the development of national indicators (decision VII/30)
p) Others (please specify)

Further information on financial support provided to developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

The next question (146) is for DEVELOPING COUNTRIES OR COUNTRIES WITH ECONOMIES IN TRANSITION

146. Please indicate with an "X" in the table below in which areas your country has applied for funds from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), from developed countries and/or from other sources. The same area may have more than one source of financial support. Please elaborate in the space below if necessary.
A r e a s Applied for funds from	GEF Bilateral	Other
a) Preparation of national biodiversity strategies or action plans
b) National capacity self-assessment for implementation of Convention (decision VI/27)
c) Priority actions to implement the Global Taxonomy Initiative (decision V/9)
d) In-situ conservation (decision V/16)
e) Development of national strategies or action plans to deal with alien species (decision VI/23)
f) Ex-situ conservation, establishment and maintenance of Ex-situ conservation facilities (decision V/26)
g) Projects that promote measures for implementing Article 13 (Education and Public Awareness) (decision VI/19)
h) Preparation of national reports (decisions III/9, V/19 and VI/25)
i) Projects for conservation and sustainable use of inland water biological diversity (decision IV/4)
j) Activities for conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biological diversity (decision V/5)
k) Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (decision VI/26)
l) Implementation of the Global Taxonomy Initiative
m) Implementation of the Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelines for the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity
n) Others (please specify)

Further information on application for financial support.

Box LXII.

Please elaborate below on the implementation of this article and associated decisions specifically focusing on:

a) outcomes and impacts of actions taken;
b) contribution to the achievement of the goals of the Strategic Plan of the Convention;
c) contribution to progress towards the 2010 target;
d) progress in implementing national biodiversity strategies and action plans;
e) contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals;
f) constraints encountered in implementation.