AR GEF Biod.Conserv in Prod. Forestry operates in Argentina.
The GEF Biodiversity Conservation in Productive Forestry Landscapes Project of Argentina will promote the mainstreaming of biodiversity conservation into plantation forestry practices, thus creating productive options that are both economically and ecologically viable. The project will show that, when properly managed, plantation forests do not compromise biodiversity and do provide multiple values: restoring degraded and fragmented landscapes; creating conditions in soils and the understory favorable to biodiversity; and providing critical ecosystem services, such as watershed protection and carbon secuestration. To address the need to integrate biodiversity conservation into plantation development, the project has four components. Component 1, Institutional capacities strengthened, aims to create the required capacity at federal and provincial levels of government within environmental and forestry agencies to spearhead the biodiversity mainstreaming process. Component 2, Development and dissemination of biodiversity-responsible plantation practices and technology transfer, will document and disseminate improved forestry practices that integrate conservation with production. Component 3, Support for the adoption of biodiversity-responsible plantation practices, will have the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food (SAGPyA) and its counterpart institutions undertake activities designed to identify and test biodiversity-responsible land use practices in high priority areas, or targeting threatened biodiversity, in the production landscape. Specifically, resources will be made available to support activities intended to promote changes in the production landscape in target areas, leading to maintenance or enhancing biodiversity of global importance and sustained economic development that is compatible with conservation objectives. Component 4, Project Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation, will support the incremental costs associated with the project implementation, as well as with setting up a system of monitoring and evaluation of outcomes. The GEF will also provide support to SAGPyA for these incremental costs. This component will also cover baseline information collection, mid-term evaluation, and final evaluation under the Monitoring and Evaluation program for the project.
