Microfinance as a Tool to Protect Biodiversity Hot-Spots

This paper identifies the manners in which best practice microfinance can assist projects to achieve their environmental goals, while avoiding common pitfalls. The paper discusses:

• The role of microfinance in integrated conservation and development projects designed to protect the environment, especially in areas facing intense population pressure on natural resources;
• The manner in which microfinance should be operated in those areas to successfully obtain the expected results in relation to the project's stated goals.

The authors argue that:

• Microcredit can contribute to the triple bottom line sought in so many biodiversity protection programs:
  • Sustainability of the natural resource;
  • Sustainability of the poor who depend on biodiversity for their livelihood;
  • Sustainability of the institutions that serve those three objectives.
• Microfinance can also support the adoption of new technologies and the creation of 'new' enterprises that enhance the sustainable use of biodiversity;
• Microfinance may be able to play a role in helping the rural poor administer conservation payments they receive in return for desisting from certain practices or engaging in others.

Finally, the authors:

• Suggest that microfinance can play an important role in the conservation of biological diversity as one more tool in the box;
• Observe that as yet, no systematic evaluation of microfinance components of integrated conservation and development projects exists;
• List key points that integrated conservation and development program designers might wish to keep in mind when developing microfinance components.