23 March 2011: The implementation of a Global Environment Facility (GEF) project has led to the creation of the Bio-Guinea Foundation, a conservation trust fund in Guinea-Bissau supporting management and conservation in protected areas.

This effort implements a US$950,000 GEF grant for the Guinea Bissau Biodiversity Trust Fund Project, and builds on a 2005 project of the World Bank and European Commission, for Coastal and Biodiversity Management Project (GEF: US$4.8 million; co-financing: US$6.31 million), which consolidated management responsibility for protected areas in Guinea-Bissau under a single umbrella: the Institute for Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IBAP).

In relation to these projects, Guinea-Bissau announced that it will go beyond the Nagoya-Aichi targets agreed by the last Conference of Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and will extend its network of protected areas from 15% to 24% of its territory by 2012. [GEF Press Release] [GEF Projects Database]