The World Bank on Friday approved a $3.51 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to support the Ministry of Environment’s (MiAmbiente) program to strengthen its capacity for biodiversity conservation and increase the adoption of inclusive and biodiversity-friendly practices in selected rural areas of the country.

Through a press release, the World Bank quoted the head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Héctor Alexander, who said that: “some of the main contributors to Panama’s GDP, including the Canal and tourism, continue to depend on the sustainable management of our abundant natural resources and globally important biodiversity. He added: “Within this project we have the responsibility to make strategic investments with a long-term perspective and demonstrate our commitment to protecting the country’s biodiversity.”

The Project for Sustainable Rural Development and Biodiversity Conservation is structured around two complementary axes to strengthen biodiversity management:

• Strengthen institutional capacity for biodiversity conservation: Improving the management, administration and knowledge of biodiversity in twelve Protected Areas and five Key Biodiversity Areas, identified in accordance with the “National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2018-2050” given its relevance for conservation in the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.

Nearly 20,000 Panamanians living in rural areas will benefit indirectly from better biodiversity conservation and management of natural and productive resources. The MiAmbiente is the body responsible for carrying out coordination activities with the relevant partner institutions. Within the framework of this component, the Project will also support research, knowledge generation and dissemination of the intrinsic value of biodiversity in Panama.

• Support biodiversity-friendly investments. To make them economically viable and inclusive activities in the buffer zones of National Protected Areas and Biodiversity Areas. The project will help rural producer organizations and local communities develop sustainable economic activities through productive partnerships.

Investments will focus on organic agriculture, agroforestry and silvopastoral systems; ecotourism with practices such as improving energy, water and waste systems in visitor facilities, and strengthening value chains, including certification processes for organic and biodiversity-friendly products. To contribute to better economic inclusion, a minimum level of participation by beneficiaries of women (40%) and indigenous groups (25%) will be targeted.

“This Project will have a positive environmental impact both in the conservation and management of biodiversity around the National Protected areas and Key Biodiversity of Panama, and in the promotion of activities for the generation of income in rural communities and in favor of vulnerable groups, such as indigenous and Afro-descendant populations that are a fundamental part of our work,” Michel Kerf, the World Bank’s director for Central America and the Dominican Republic, said in the press release released Saturday.

The project will run over four years and will have a total cost of $10.01 million, including a $3.51 million grant from the GEF. An additional $6.5 million will come from co-financing, including direct contributions from the MiAmbiente, a line of credit made available by other financial institutions for those implementing subprojects, and contributions from the beneficiaries themselves.