Collaborative Programme

SwedBio collaborates with a large number of organisations all over the world. We also provide financial support to a limited number of strategic initiatives, and the Collaborative Programme is a key opportunity for us to directly contribute to development of ideas, methods and policies regarding biodiversity and local livelihoods.

SwedBio therefore supports capacity building, intended to both encourage development of enabling institutional frameworks (policies and strategies, values and attitudes), and more hands-on biodiversity-based production and marketing practices. This is done through supporting policy development, development of tools and methods, and net-working (including exchange, learning, and communication) in these areas.

All supported initiatives address the following three (and interlinked) dimensions in different ways:

1. Sustainable management of biodiversity and sustaining ecosystem services to ensure human well-being and health and contribute to poverty alleviation.
   Aspects include a) biodiversity for food and income, b) biodiversity and vulnerability, and c) biodiversity and health.
   
   
2. Ensure equity and human rights in management and use of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
   Giving voice to civil society in international processes, collaborative and community-based management, and gender and biodiversity are three important aspects.
   
   
3. Development of appropriate incentive frameworks and good governance in order to address root causes of biodiversity loss.
   This includes aspects such as a) addressing macro-policies, trade and international conventions, b) integrating ecosystem management goals in development and sector planning, c) communication, and d) addressing governance failures (see 2. above).

SwedBio collaborates with networks and organisations working at global (or regional) level. National and/or local level projects are not supported directly. Financial support is provided both for programmatic (longer term) collaborations with a range of organisations, and for short-term initiatives (such as participation of representatives from the South in important regional and international workshops & conferences of relevance to biodiversity and ecosystem services). The annual budget for the SwedBio Collaborative Programme is about USD 2,5 million (SEK 20 millions). A full overview regarding scope, priorities and criteria for the Collaborative Programme can be downloaded here.

SwedBio has limited funds available to support a small number of additional initiatives during 2007 and 2008. Priority will be given to identifying collaborations that address the following issues:

• Supporting civil society engagement in relevant multi-lateral processes and meetings, e.g. involvement in CBD-processes, ITPGRFA, and other FAO-related processes.
• Ecosystem services and climate change.
• Sound ecosystem management in marine and coastal areas.
• Health and biodiversity.
• Tools for mainstreaming, e.g. valuation tools, market-based mechanisms for managing ecosystem services, and biodiversity/ecosystem services in EIA/SEA.

Contact address: swedbio@cbm.slu.se