Nature conservation in Southern Caucasus

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 Matthäus-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.”