Directrices para la evaluación de la condición jurídica y social nacional del agua de lastre

In Hon Yen Island, Viet Nam, 12.7 ha of biodiverse coral reefs and 6.5 ha of seagrass-algal beds provide habitat for numerous marine species, sustaining the livelihoods of fishing and tourism communities. The island is known for its vibrant socio-cultural landscape, with rituals, crafts, and other traditional practices. However, aquaculture waste, unregulated tourism, and other challenges have threatened local biodiversity, while women and youth face barriers to work in tourism and marine management.  

Amid this situation, the Women’s Unions of Dak Lak province and An Hoa Hai commune, UNDP’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN), the GEF Small Grants Program (SGP), and other partners supported the establishment of the Hon Yen Service and Ecology Cooperative (Eco-Coop).  

Eco-Coop empowers local women and youth in tourism, organizes community-led ecotours, and promotes biodiversity conservation initiatives. By 2025, these tours attracted thousands of visitors, supporting the livelihoods of 80 individuals.

Viet Nam, one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, is losing nature at an alarming pace due to deforestation, unchecked tourism, land-use change, and pollution. Although 176 protected areas exist, many were long treated as “prohibited zones,” limiting community participation, weakening stewardship and restricting access to resources. Rapid growth in tourism, infrastructure, agriculture, and fisheries, combined with gaps in legal frameworks, institutional capacity, and awareness, has increased pressure on both protected and non-protected landscapes.

From 2020 to 2025, the GEF-funded Biosphere Reserve Project, led by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (now Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) with support from UNDP, worked to reshape this relationship. At its heart was a simple but powerful idea: biodiversity thrives when communities, authorities, and planners share responsibility for the landscapes they depend on.

In Panama’s western highlands, small coffee farmers face growing pressures from pests, plant diseases and climate change. Heavy reliance on chemical pesticides has harmed biodiversity, degraded soils and threatened pollinators. This solution shows how endophytic fungi, microorganisms that live naturally inside plants, can serve as effective biological pest control adapted to local conditions. Fungal strains were identified and transformed into low-cost formulations that were tested on coffee farms, where they significantly reduced the need for chemical inputs. The initiative brings together scientists, government institutions and local communities, with a strong focus on training and empowering women farmers. By addressing biodiversity loss, land degradation and gaps in technical capacity, the project strengthens sustainable livelihoods and climate resilience. Farmers benefit through higher yields, lower costs and healthier ecosystems, creating a scalable model for sustainable coffee production in Panama and beyond.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, different local actors in the province of Guayas the canton of Playas Villamil, including citizens, volunteers, officials of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, and the Fundacion Juvimar “Juntos por la vida marina” joined forces to rescue the marine fauna that was stranded in the National Recreation Area Playas de Villamil and did not receive help due to the confinement that stopped all activities. Since then, the initiative has continued and strengthened its work in favor of the conservation of marine-coastal species.

«Unidos por la naturaleza en el camino hacia 2045: una visión estratégica de 20 años para la Unión» articula el compromiso de la UICN con «un mundo justo que valora y conserva la naturaleza» y establece una dirección clara para las próximas dos décadas. Orienta los esfuerzos colectivos para salvaguardar la biodiversidad, inspirar el compromiso social e impulsar un cambio transformador hacia un futuro sostenible.

Un objetivo clave de esta guía es replantear la EIA para ayudar a apoyar la conservación de la biodiversidad y el logro de los objetivos globales relacionados (junto con los objetivos climáticos y otros objetivos de desarrollo social). Esta guía se centra en la biodiversidad y el desarrollo eólico y solar, y está dirigida principalmente a planificadores gubernamentales y promotores de proyectos. Sin embargo, dado que está diseñada para ayudar a abordar algunos de los desafíos existentes en la EIA, su aplicabilidad es potencialmente más amplia.