December 2006

A New Biodiversity Corridor for the Atlantic Forest

A Brazilian conservation organization helped communities create detailed maps and develop and implement management plans for the protection of the 1.1-million-hectare Mantiqueira Corridor. The corridor will link five protected areas and protect forest fragments that fall within the state of Minas Gerais in the Atlantic Forest Hotspot.

November 2006

Mining Giant Commits to Conservation

New funding is helping the Namaqualand Restoration Initiative develop protocols to re-establish indigenous plant species in the Succulent Karoo Hotspot. Local community members participated in the research efforts, and will be trained by the initiative to one day be employed by mining companies in ongoing restoration efforts.

October 2006

Conservation First for Bushmanland

A key business partner in the Succulent Karoo Hotspot has agreed to set aside 25,000 hectares of highly threatened habitat as a conservation management area. The Bushmanland Conservation Initiative, a unique partnership of businesses, government, and local and international nonprofit organizations, helped make this possible.

September 2006

Donors Pledge $3.13 Billion for GEF

The Global Environment Facility—the world’s largest environmental funding body and a Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund donor partner—recently received a record financial boost with donor countries agreeing to contribute $3.13 billion for environmental projects during the next four years.

September 2006

CEPF Mourns Loss of Colleagues, Partners

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund offers its deepest condolences to our colleagues at WWF and to the families and friends of all the victims of a tragic helicopter crash in Nepal Sept. 23. The crash in the mountainous far east of the country took the lives of 24 people, including seven WWF staff and Nepali, U.S. and Finnish government officials.

August 2006

World Heritage Recognition for China’s Panda Habitat

Nearly 1 million hectares of panda habitat in the Mountains of Southwest China Hotspot have been declared a World Heritage site. Support from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund helped to bring together a range of government authorities and biodiversity experts to create the nomination that resulted in this designation.

July 2006

Local Fishermen Key to New Reserve

A nongovernmental organization in Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia has worked with local fishermen to establish the Reserva Extrativista Marinha de Canavieiras. This 100,000-hectare reserve forms an important part of the Atlantic Forest Hotspot’s protected area network while also preserving the livelihood of the nearby communities.

June 2006

Six New Protected Areas for Mesoamerica Hotspot

New funding from the Dutch government will help to create protected areas in the Cuchumatanes region of Guatemala, a key biodiversity area in the northern region of the Mesoamerica Hotspot. A partnership of regional and national organizations supported by CEPF helped secure the funding that will protect this unique area.

May 2006

Renewed Support for Ngöbe-Bugle and La Amistad

Indigenous peoples in Panama will be better able to strengthen environmental protocols and make community decisions regarding their land as a result of funding from CEPF. Partnerships with local organizations in the southern region of the Mesoamerica Hotspot will also promote sustainable development and capacity building.

April 2006

New Fund for Protected Areas in the Caucasus

A new fund will provide up to 50 percent of the basic annual operating costs of protected areas in the Caucasus Hotspot, which have the greatest biological diversity of any temperate forest region in the world. Startup funding from CEPF, along with commitments from the German government, WWF, and CI totaling $9.7 million have made this possible.

March 2006

Landmark Agreement Made with Government of Tanzania

CEPF and the Government of Tanzania recently came to an agreement regarding the sharing of information with the Forestry and Beekeeping Division of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. It's an important step toward ensuring that the results of CEPF investment are integrated into management decisions for Tanzania’s forests.

February 2006

New Partnership to Launch Small Grants Program in Bolivia

In an effort to help communities manage their natural resources in and around protected areas, CEPF has teamed with Fundación Protección y Uso Sostenible del Medio Ambiente (Fundación PUMA) to launch a $1 million program to make a long-term impact on biodiversity conservation in the Tropical Andes Hotspot.

January 2006

Madagascar's Protected Area Network Grows by 1 Million Hectares in 2005

The recent declaration of 875,000 hectares of protected area in three locations in Madagascar meets the 2005 target of 1 million hectares, part of the overall commitment of tripling the island’s protected areas by 2008. Funding from CEPF helped make this possible.