The director of the International Department of the Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, Sonia Castañeda, participated in the workshop entitled “Financing opportunities for environmental projects in Spanish cooperation: central administration and decentralized cooperation”, held this morning within the framework of the IUCN World Conservation Congress.

The Biodiversity Foundation has participated in this initiative, which has served to provide attendees with information of interest on the financing opportunities for projects for conservation and sustainable development offered by the different public and private actors of Spanish development cooperation, from the central to the local administration, through different entities such as foundations.

Sonia Castañeda explained the objectives of the Biodiversity Foundation in international cooperation. These are: promoting initiatives to reduce poverty and reverse the degradation of natural resources; strengthening institutions and supporting and sharing experts and technologies; support for indigenous communities and ecotourism initiatives; and actions within the framework of international agreements. These projects will be developed in Latin America, the Mediterranean Basin, Africa and countries with historical links to Spain.

Likewise, the Director of International of the Biodiversity Foundation explained that this institution began its work in international cooperation in 2004 and that since then it has supported 40 projects. This commitment has been consolidated and intensified, for example, in the Call for Grants that this institution calls for annually, it has gone from 3 projects in 2005 to 13 in 2008, and the budget of this strategic line has been increased by 228%. For 2009, the Biodiversity Foundation has committed 5.8% of the budget for international cooperation projects, which amounts to 1,800,000 euros. Thus, 5 of the 30 new programmes are related to international cooperation and will be developed in Africa, Latin America and European countries.

The Biodiversity Foundation seeks to collaborate in projects in which various actors intervene, work with the local population, preserve natural resources, and promote processes of change and are focused on their own sustainability.

On behalf of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the table was chaired by Moisés Martín, Head of the Multilateral Cooperation Department of the Department of Sectoral and Multilateral Cooperation. The workshop was attended by the deputy director of the Autonomous National Parks Agency, José Jiménez, the director of the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation and a representative of the Development Cooperation of the Generalitat Valenciana, as well as the director of International of the Biodiversity Foundation.

Each of the speakers presented their development cooperation strategies, explaining how environmental aspects are integrated into them and the financing opportunities for the nature conservation and sustainable development projects they offer.