Frequently Asked Questions - Where We Work
Where does CEPF support civil society?
CEPF invests in biodiversity hotspots, the Earth’s biologically richest and most threatened areas. CEPF focuses on hotspots in developing countries and strategically targets priority areas for conservation within these hotspots for maximum impact. Currently, applications for grants are accepted in the following regions:
- Caucasus
- Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Tanzania and Kenya
- Eastern Himalayas Region
- Mesoamerica (Northern Mesoamerica: Belize, Guatemala, Mexico)
- Succulent Karoo
Back to Table of Contents
How does CEPF determine which critical ecosystems to invest in?
Three main criteria guide which areas would be recommended to the Donor Council and approved for funding: ecosystems must be within a hotspot, within World Bank Borrowing Member Countries, and within countries that have ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Back to Table of Contents
Will additional critical areas become eligible for funding?
Yes. CEPF aims to invest in at least 14 hotspots during the next five years, as detailed in our Strategic Framework (FY 2008-2012) approved by the Donor Council in July 2007. The first regions for new investment under the Framework are the Polynesia-Micronesia Hotspot, the Indochina region of the Indo-Burma Hotspot, and the Western Ghats region of the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka Hotspot.
The Council has also agreed all 13 of the existing CEPF investment regions that will have reached the end of their five-year investment period as of July 2008 will be eligible for a consolidation program in design to both advance and sustain the conservation gains made to date. The Council has also approved the selection of five other new hotspots for future investment as follows:
- Mediterranean Basin
- Caribbean Islands
- East Melanesian Islands
- Eastern Afromontane (incorporating the Horn of Africa Hotspot as appropriate)
- Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany
Planning for the new regions will begin with the traditional CEPF ecosystem profiling process to identify the CEPF niche and investment strategy for each region (see Regional Strategy Development). This process will first be undertaken in the Mediterranean Basin, Caribbean Islands, and Eastern Afromontane hotspots.
Two other regions may be selected for investment at a later date by the Donor Council from among the Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands; Cerrado; Wallacea; Chilean Winter Rainfall-Valdivian Forests; and Mountains of Central Asia hotspots.
Back to Table of Contents
