GERMAN GOVERNMENT PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR CONSERVATION FUND IN THE CAUCASUS
WWF Caucasus / Levan Pataraia
WWF International, Switzerland
March 9 2006
The Caucasus region is home to the Caucasus leopard, lynx and brown
bear.
The Caucasus region, covering some 50 million hectares, hosts an
extraordinarily high level of biodiversity.
09 Mar 2006 Berlin, Germany – German Development Minister Heidemarie
Wieczorek-Zeul has pledged ~@5 million to support the establishment
of a transboundary nature conservation fund in the southern Caucasus
region. Additional aid for the fund from international donors is
expected to see the amount rise to ~@40.
“Nature doesn’t know borders,” the minister said at the start of a
3-day ministerial conference on nature protection in the Caucasus
organized by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development (BMZ), KfW development bank and WWF-Germany. “That’s why
cross-border cooperation is crucial for the national parks in the
Caucasus to be viable.”
The minister also stressed that the achievements in conservation
are the results of a continuous dialogue between NGOS, academics and
concerned governments.
The conservation fund aims to cover half the operational costs
for the most important conservation areas in this biodiversity-rich
region. The governments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are expected
to cover the other half. This makes the fund an integral part of the
conservation strategy, developed by WWF and KfW, in cooperation with
experts and government representatives from the region. The effort
also represents a major contribution to the United Nations Convention
on Biological Diversity by the states from the southern Caucasus.
The fund is setting new standards for nature conservation as only the
interest is to be used for project work, leaving the capital stock
intact. This will secure permanent financing of park management,
rangers and research.
“Our bank has already made positive experiences in the past with the
establishment of the Borjormi-Kharagauli-National Park in Georgia,
the first national park in the region,” said Ingrid Matthaus-Maier,
member of the KfW-group Board of Managing Directors.
“The planned trust fund is an innovative tool to secure the
sustainability of the bank’s investments in conservation.”
According to WWF, the Caucasus region – covering some 50 million
hectares and home to an extraordinarily high level of biodiversity –
belongs to the 200 most important ecoregions on this planet. Its most
prominent species are the Caucasus leopard, lynx and the brown bear.
“No state can protect the highly threatened Caucasus leopard alone,”
said WWF-Germany CEO Dr Peter Prokosch. “This is why the launch of
this regional conservation fund is so important.”
For further information: Ralph Kampwirth, Press Officer WWF-Germany
Tel: +49-162-29144-73
newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=63080
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress