Biodiversity-Based Products as an Economic Source of the Improvement of Livelihoods and Biodiversity Protection (BBP)
Partner organisation: GIZ GmbH/ GFA Consulting Group
Duration: 2015 – 2019
The ASEAN Member States host about 18% of the species of the Earth; 3 of the 17 mega-diverse countries; about 35% of the global mangrove forests; and 30% of the coral reefs. This wealth in biodiversity poses opportunities for the economic development of the region.
The substantial biological wealth found in the ASEAN region provides opportunities for the economic, ecological, and socio-cultural development. In local markets of ASEAN Member States (AMS), biodiversity-based products (BBPs) such as natural cosmetics, pharmaceutical and health-supplement products, additives, handicraft, and other non-timber forest products are common. The AMS may improve on these potentials and develop BBPs at the national, regional and possibly international markets through their promotion. Thus, with support from the BMZ of Germany, ACB and GIZ-GFA are implementing the Biodiversity-based Products Project.
The AMS want to use this economic potential by further developing trade relations for bio-products (organic trade) nationally, regionally and possibly globally. However, the potential of biodiversity-based Products (BBP), especially for the local indigenous population in buffer zones of protected areas in the region is not yet sufficiently analyzed, and their market potential often unknown.
To promote ASEAN national policies on conservation, particularly in the framework of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), ASEAN has established the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), an intergovernmental institution, to address the protection of biodiversity on a regional level, to develop and disseminate joint strategies as well as to explore win-win opportunities, merging biodiversity protection with livelihood improvement for the mostly poor population.
The BBP Project is implemented by GFA Consulting Group GmbH for GIZ and in cooperation with the ACB.
The focus of project intervention will be in the buffer zones of Nam Ha ASEAN Heritage Park (AHP) in Lao PDR ; Ba Be AHP and Hoang Lien, Sa Pa AHP in Vietnam ; and the community protected areas of Phnom Kulen in Cambodia.
The project will provide emphasis on and contribute to the economic valuation of biodiversity as well as the sustainable use, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
