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In less than one year, the GEF’s Global Biodiversity Framework Fund has moved from launch to full-speed operation, with four projects already reviewed, approved, and funded, and dozens more in the pipeline. GBFF In Focus is a series showcasing how the new biodiversity fund is changing the game for how countries can invest in nature, starting with four projects in Brazil, Gabon, and Mexico. These projects moved from concept approval to implementation in just six months, and stand out for their inclusive, integrated approach to building a more nature-positive future.
Although it makes up about 1 percent of the world’s surface, Mexico is home to more than 10 percent of all known plant and animal species. Investing in protecting this rich biodiversity is a major priority for the country and the planet – and new funding from the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund is providing a needed boost to that aim.
MEx30x30: Conserving Mexican biodiversity through communities and their protected areas is one of the first four projects to receive GBFF funding, less than a year since countries launched it to supercharge efforts to meet global biodiversity goals.
The $17 million provided to Mexico will fund the inclusive development and management of protected areas – key to the country’s efforts to put 30 percent of land, inland waters, and coastal and marine areas under sustainable management by 2030. The project will be implemented by Conservation International in partnership with the Mexican Fund for Nature Conservation (FMCN).
Since 1917, when the government declared Desierto de los Leones a national park, Mexico has been gradually increasing the amount of land under public stewardship. In the past two years alone, it has created 44 new protected areas, bringing the amount of territory under protection to 95 million hectares, or 226 protected areas – many of which are managed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
And there is an enormous amount of natural capital to protect: Mexico ranks second in the world for the number of reptile species that live there, and has the globe’s third-largest complement of mammals, with more than 564 species. The country is also home to thousands of medicinal plant species.
MEx30x30’s three principal objectives are focused on the designed to help the country step up its efforts to reach its 30 percent biodiversity conservation target.
The first is to help the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP) to grow its budget and strengthen its management of protected areas and more effectively manage private conservation areas, which are overseen by Indigenous Peoples, private owners, or others who have opted to launch ecosystem preservation initiatives on land.
MEx30x30’s second goal is to raise bridge capital to cover the gap in funding for Mexico’s protected areas. Currently, these zones are facing significant funding challenges that not only hamper conservation, but hurt the incomes of Indigenous Peoples and local communities who live within their confines.
The third objective fits in with the GBFF’s ambition to support inclusive conservation: to work with Indigenous Peoples and local communities in several target areas to conserve, restore, and sustainably manage protected territories.
Teams will work in six areas to explore new ways to use biodiversity conservation to boost incomes. These territories, which are linked to five different Indigenous groups and represent a range of ecosystems, will receive technical and financial support. Lessons learned through these pilots – in Chimalapas and the protected areas Balam Kú, Riego 043, Papigochic, Bajos del Norte, and Tecuani – will strengthen the management of both existing and new protected areas as Mexico continues its push towards 2030.
