Photo credit: Imburanatec/Adobe Stock
In less than one year, the GEF’s Global Biodiversity Framework Fund has moved from launch to full-speed operation, with four projects already reviewed, approved, and funded, and dozens more in the pipeline. GBFF In Focus is a series showcasing how the new biodiversity fund is changing the game for how countries can invest in nature, starting with four projects in Brazil, Gabon, and Mexico. These projects moved from concept approval to implementation in just six months, and stand out for their inclusive, integrated approach to building a more nature-positive future.
The Caatinga – or “white forest” in the local Tupi language – is one of Brazil’s most fragile and species-rich biomes. It is also one of its most minimally protected: just 9 percent of the 844,000-kilometer expanse in the country’s northeast is currently under official protection.
One of the first projects funded by the new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) aims to change this, both by creating new protected areas and fortifying the management of existing ones.
Implemented by the WWF-US and executed by the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (FUNBIO), the Caatinga Protected Areas Program (ARCA) will work with local communities and Indigenous Peoples in the area to bolster resilience to climate change, improve livelihoods, and promote sustainable resource use.
Inclusive conservation with strong partnerships are key priorities of the GBFF, a fund housed at the Global Environment Facility that was launched in 2023 to help countries achieve the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The Caatinga, the world’s largest semi-arid region, is a drought-prone area of shrubland and thorn forest. The area is rich in biodiversity, with 178 different mammal species, 591 types of birds, and 221 varieties of bees. Roughly 650 of the species that live in the area – 327 animals and 323 plants – are endemic.
The new program focused on the Caatinga builds on the successes of the GEF-funded Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA), which is the largest tropical forest protection initiative in the world.
Threats to the globally important biodiversity in the Caatinga abound – they include illegal and unsustainable harvesting of timber, overgrazing, the conversion of land for farming and livestock, and fire risks due to the prevalence of drought.
These pressures, coupled with poaching and habitat encroachment, have put many of the region’s species in danger of vanishing. Some 125 of the region’s animals and 253 of its plants are deemed threatened, while many of its iconic bird species are targeted by poachers serving the pet trade.
One of these is Spix’s macaw, a diminutive blue parrot deemed extinct in the wild in the 1990s after poaching whittled its numbers down to a single individual. Thanks to a 2022 reintroduction program, a small flock of one of the world’s most endangered parrots has begun breeding again in Caatinga, but keeping them safe is essential.
The GBFF-funded project will buttress defenses for all endangered species in the region by ensuring the full implementation of National Action Plans for Species Conservation, which were created by the Brazilian government to reduce the risk of extinctions.
Targeted training will assist government in the fight against illegal wildlife trafficking, along with a media campaign to amplify the anti-poaching message with the public.
The program will also support a biodiversity survey of Brazil’s least-known biome using such innovative procedures as the analysis of environmental DNA: the genetic material left by organisms that live in an ecosystem. This data will help identify priority areas for conservation and lay the groundwork for the establishment of new protected areas and ecological corridors.
Existing protected areas in the Caatinga, which often lack the funding, infrastructure, equipment, and staff necessary for effective maintenance, will benefit too.
Through financial support, staff education, and engagement with local communities, the program aims to strengthen the management of protected lands in Bahia, Paraíba, Pernambuco, and Piauí. As part of this effort, the Protected Area Management Councils of the target areas will get support building fire management plans, developing strategies to combat desertification and adapt to climate change.
All these efforts will contribute to a single goal: improving safeguards for the irreplaceable biodiversity in South America’s largest tropical dry forest.
