The Global Environment Facility, the World Bank and partners welcomed award winning actor and conservationist Harrison Ford, in celebrating a decade of achievement for the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), an initiative that has engaged more than 20 industries as partners in biodiversity conservation, including tourism, fisheries, cocoa, coffee, mining, rice, wine and forestry.
26 October 2010: The Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank and partners welcomed award winning actor and conservationist Harrison Ford, in celebrating a decade of achievement for the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), an initiative that has engaged more than 20 industries as partners in biodiversity conservation, including tourism, fisheries, cocoa, coffee, mining, rice, wine and forestry.
Among CEPF’s achievements are: the establishment of more than 80 networks of civil society groups, creating a new model in regions where conservation historically has been characterized by isolated and fragmented approaches, such as in Sumatra and the Guinean Forests of West Africa; and fostering the adoption of at least 25 sectoral policies, laws and regulations in support of biodiversity conservation and mainstreaming conservation into development policy at local and national levels. For example, in the Philippines, Presidential Executive Order 578 declared all key biodiversity areas identified by CEPF to be “critical habitats.”
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint program of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank Group. Private sector partners include De Beers Namaqualand Mines in South Africa, Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union in Ghana and Unilever in the Philippines. [GEF Press Release]