COP16: Biodiversity in Focus and CECI’s Commitment – Promises, Challenges, and Concrete Actions

How are biodiversity data useful for communities, governments, and the private sector?

The collection of biodiversity data is essential to guide and assess conservation efforts. With reliable data, all actors – from local communities and governments to the private sector – can make informed decisions to protect the environment and support sustainable development.

• For communities: These data help them manage their natural resources more sustainably. At CECI, we work with communities to facilitate the integration of scientific and traditional knowledge. By jointly selecting biodiversity indicators, we implement participatory monitoring mechanisms. This approach allows communities to define their own focus points, such as key plants or animals, to assess the impact of management practices on their environment and livelihoods. Participatory biodiversity monitoring also supports community efforts by providing concrete proof of their conservation work, potentially granting them access to incentives like biodiversity credits. Additionally, communities contribute to identifying threatened species that are vital to their livelihoods, which can then be restored and/or protected.

• For governments: With a better understanding of local ecosystems, governments can adapt their actions to protect nature while supporting economic development. They can create policies that encourage responsible investment in conservation, and the commitments made at COP15 and COP16 reflect this, underscoring the importance of considering biodiversity in public decision-making.

• For the private sector: Companies can use these data to direct investments toward biodiversity-friendly projects, reducing risks associated with environmental degradation. The development of biodiversity credits encourages the private sector to support local initiatives that restore and preserve biodiversity.

How does CECI ensure that restoration and conservation activities have a real impact on biodiversity?

At CECI, in projects that include biodiversity efforts, we ensure that conservation or restoration activities are measured to evaluate their impact. To do this, we start by establishing a baseline with our partners on intervention sites. This baseline allows all stakeholders to track biodiversity changes on these sites using tools like satellite imagery, specialized cameras, and DNA analysis (environmental DNA and DNA barcoding).

Then, regular assessments are conducted to measure changes. Demonstrating the impact of these actions on conservation and biodiversity maintenance allows communities and partners to explore the possibility of valorizing these gains in the form of biodiversity credits, to support community-led initiatives.

Which projects concretely embody these ambitions at CECI?

CECI is involved in several projects that illustrate our commitment to biodiversity. For example:

• The project Nature-Based Solutions in the Guinean Forests of West Africa supports biodiversity inventories through environmental DNA, DNA barcoding, and local knowledge integration, improving biodiversity data and highlighting the exceptional richness of targeted landscapes. Some of the project’s partners, IUCN and iBOL, attended COP16 this year to share these initiatives and foster connections with government and private sector stakeholders with a view to piloting biodiversity credit initiatives.

• The RÉELS project, inspired by this component of the Guinean Forests project, is developing a biodiversity knowledge component with a similar methodology in close collaboration with local communities in Burkina Faso and Niger.

• The volunteer cooperation program: In Bolivia, volunteers supported partners in implementing small-scale pilot projects to protect biodiversity, both in the Amazon and Andean regions, replicating positive results by developing best practice guides for family agriculture and sustainable tourism site management. They also conducted a study on biodiversity fragility in the Andean wetlands to support local partners in their advocacy for a law to protect these wetlands.

These initiatives demonstrate how local communities can play an active role in preserving their environment and nature, embodying the commitments of COP15 and COP16, and proving that the fight for biodiversity is built daily.