German development cooperation and the work of its partner organisations enables strategies and approaches to the conservation of biodiversity and concrete experience of the sustainable use of biodiversity to impact on the formulation of national and international sector policies and development strategies. Work carried out on the ground provides tangible support and yields practical experience that can feed into policy-making.

A crucial aspect is the need to integrate the priorities of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) – which include biosafety, benefit sharing and conservation of traditional knowledge – into national development strategies and programmes in Germany’s partner countries. These priorities are also at the heart of GIZ’s work on biodiversity. This work – carried out on behalf of BMZ – drives forward implementation of the Convention, doing so in two main ways:

Pilot projects

State and non-state organisations are being helped to implement concrete measures for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in more than 20 pilot projects in Asia, Africa and Latin America. This improves local structures, and experience gained from these projects contributes to the creation or improvement of framework conditions for the conservation and use of biodiversity. At local level successful implementation of the Convention aims to ensure that poorer groups participate in benefits and profits arising from the use of biodiversity and their traditional knowledge of biological resources. Such activities thus have a direct effect in helping to strengthen the rights of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles.

Further development of the Biodiversity Convention

Drawing on its experience gathered in pilot projects, GIZ also contributes to the further development of the Convention and its instruments and bodies. This involves supporting BMZ in international negotiation and consultancy processes, participating in national and international forums relevant to biodiversity, organising public awareness events and contributing ideas to the fleshing out of the Convention. Here again the focus is on access to genetic resources, equitable benefit sharing, biosafety, traditional knowledge and sustainable use. In addition, studies are carried out and workshops and training courses organised.

• Project brief of the GIZ programme “Implementing the Biodiversity Convention” (BIODIV)
  de-biodiv-projektprofil-2005.pdf, 0.34 MB (German)
  en-biodiv-project-brief-2005.pdf, 0.09 MB (English)