Biodiversity

Our Work

The European Community is an important funder of conservation within the EU. IEEP has decades of experience in contributing to debates on EU and global financing of biodiversity. We aim to help policy-makers understand the benefits associated with investing in nature conservation, and to make stakeholders aware of funding opportunities. Our work includes assessing how much money has been directed towards biodiversity protection and making recommendations to ensure that funding is adequate to meet biodiversity objectives.

IEEP has a broad range of experts in European funds, enabling us to develop detailed guidance on the opportunities for funding biodiversity conservation through these channels. This work includes the European Commission’s Financing Natura 2000 Guidance Handbook and other finance related guidance. We also analyse innovative financial instruments and approaches to enhance private sector financing of biodiversity, and funding biodiversity conservation in developing countries.

Our work has also supported the case for investing in nature conservation through researching the social and economic benefits and costs of investing in protected areas, including the Natura 2000 network.

More about our work in this area...

Latest in Financing Biodiversity

  • Guidelines for biodiversity proofing the EU budget

    This report provides a practical framework to ensure that spending under the EU budget has no negative impacts on biodiversity, and that spending under the EU budget is overall supportive to achieving the biodiversity targets.

  • Biodiversity proofing of the EU budget

    This study shows how more can be done to firstly avoid and minimize detrimental impacts of EU funding on biodiversity, and secondly to increase biodiversity benefits.

  • Socio-economic importance of ecosystem services in the Nordic countries

    New TEEB-inspired regional assessment (published on 31 January) shows that nature and its ecosystem services are of high socio-economic significance for the Nordic countries. In order to be truly sustainable, Nordic economic systems need to build on a more comprehensive appreciation and understanding of the value of natural capital.

  • Increasing regional prosperity by investing in nature: Guidance to mainstream biodiversity

    Investment in natural capital through the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems has a lot to offer for regional development. A new publication authored by IEEP provides guidance on integrating biodiversity into EU Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in 2014-2020.

Highlights