2008 Annual Report
Commitment is the watchword for the many organizations at the heart of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF). In concert with our partners around the globe, CEPF maintains a steadfast focus on our purpose to provide strategic assistance to nongovernmental and private sector organizations for the protection of vital ecosystems.
One way in which the CEPF partners have demonstrated that integrity of vision has been
through new pledges of support for the global program.
This year, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation pledged $12 million in new
funding, thus raising its investment in CEPF to $37 million. The Global Environment Facility committed $20 million in new funds, bringing its total support to $45 million. Just as the year ended, the World Bank also pledged to mobilize $25 million in new resources for the program, which would bring its total commitment for CEPF to $50 million.
Helping us guide these investments will be James Wolfensohn, the former World Bank
president and one of the founding leaders of CEPF whom we welcomed back as chairman of our program’s governing body. He returns at a momentous time made possible by these new commitments and those of our other partners. This year, we embarked on a consolidation program to sustain the gains made in selected hotspots. We also launched a major expansion to provide support to hundreds of civil society groups in additional hotspots, with new investment programs in Indochina, Polynesia-Micronesia and the Western Ghats region of southwestern India.
Our support gives our many dedicated civil society partners in the fi eld the tools they
need to continue building a brighter and sustainable future for the plants, animals and
communities that comprise some of the most threatened yet wondrous corners of the world.
Jørgen B. Thomsen
Executive Director, CEPF
Senior Vice President, Conservation International