Like its neighbors, Bolivia is home to incredible cultural and natural diversity. Its borders include parts of the Amazon, the Cerrado, the Gran Chaco, and the Pantanal. The world’s largest tropical wetland, the Pantanal is home to more than 4,700 plant and animal species, including crocodiles, jaguars, giant river otters, giant armadillos, and endangered maned wolves. Though it holds a smaller percentage of the Pantanal compared to Brazil, Bolivia hosts 75% of the protected areas within the biome—a tangible demonstration of Bolivia’s conservation leadership.
Today, with the signing of a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build a Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) initiative, Bolivia has taken another major step for the future of nature. A PFP initiative promises secured financing and an equitable distribution of conservation benefits for generations to come.
What this agreement means
Developed through an innovative approach to conservation, PFP initiatives ensure entire systems of conservation areas are well-managed, sustainably financed, and benefit the communities who depend on them for the long term. Each PFP initiative binds the policy changes and funding necessary for conservation success together in a single agreement.
The Bolivia PFP aims to focus on freshwater, forests, and communities, and support the 18% of the country’s territory that is covered by the national protected area system and three Indigenous protected areas through long-term, sustainable financing. Emphasizing the importance of Indigenous leadership, this agreement sets Bolivia on a path to strengthen Indigenous co-management to support a thriving bioeconomy and prioritizes the conservation of Bolivia’s natural and cultural heritage. By bolstering the protection of Bolivia’s incredible natural places, including the Pantanal, it ensures essential local and regional freshwater security.
“The most durable form of conservation respects the rights and visions of local communities and helps secure and strengthen indigenous territories and their livelihoods. This MOU provides a path to deliver, with partners, long-term sustainable financing for Bolivia’s national and Indigenous protected area,” said WWF-US President and CEO Carter Roberts. “Nature is in crisis. In just 50 years, the average size of monitored wildlife populations has declined 73%—and a staggering 95% decline in Latin America and the Caribbean. Project Finance for Permanence not only delivers the financing we need, but also designs for local needs and provides equitable benefits for communities.”
Addressing a biodiversity crisis
The world’s biodiversity is under threat: WWF’s recent Living Planet Report found a devastating 73% decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations in just 50 years, with the steepest overall declines across Latin America and the Caribbean at 95%. Additionally, this year’s devastating wildfires in the Pantanal have threatened local communities, protected areas, and wildlife.
Fortunately, there are clear solutions: We need more sustainable financing and the ability to deliver the benefits from conservation equitably. Through PFP initiatives, WWF has helped conserve millions of acres in the world’s most biodiverse and carbon-rich landscapes, including Brazil, Bhutan, and Colombia. Now Bolivia and its partners are poised to conserve and steward nature in alignment with the vision and values of its people.
WWF recognizes the Ministry of Environment and Water of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Foundation for the Development of the National Protected Areas System (FUNDESNAP), the National Protected Areas Service (SERNAP), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and Wildlife Conservation Society for their collaboration on this PFP for Bolivia.
This PFP initiative for Bolivia is part of Enduring Earth, an ambitious collaboration that works with all stewards of the environment to accelerate conservation worldwide through the PFP approach. Enduring Earth is currently working with more than 100 partners, governments, Indigenous peoples and local communities, and funders across 12 PFP projects in 11 countries to durably protect more than 350 million hectares of ocean, lands, and freshwater — an area similar in size to India.
