The CEPF Investment Strategy will be funded over a period of three years and represents the beginning of a larger process to bring about sustainable biodiversity conservation within the region. It is therefore important to highlight the sustainability of the CEPF strategy beyond the initial three-year funding period. There are three key elements to the sustainability of these objectives; the first, already noted, is a tremendous current level of investment within the region by several multilateral and bilateral organizations, government agencies, and international and local NGOs. In order to build on this, the CEPF plans to encourage sustainability by building local capacities, the second key element of sustainability. Much of the implementation of biodiversity conservation efforts is currently done by outside organizations and the focus of CEPF is to build local capacities to take over much of this role and for these civil society groups to take the lead on conservation efforts. Capacity alone, however, may not be sufficient. Financial resources for biodiversity conservation will remain a critical issue for sustainability. For this, through cultivation of partnerships and alliances, the CEPF hopes to leverage new funding for biodiversity conservation. This is the third element of sustainability. It is expected that quality results from CEPF projects will generate increased interest and confidence in the donor community leading to increased investment. The combination of local capacity and increased overall funding, together with current levels of investment in the region, should lead to greater biodiversity conservation impacts that can be sustained for a long time to come.
While the overall sustainability hypothesis is logical and sound, there will be much to learn from each individual CEPF grant project. Accordingly, all project proposals will include a section in which external risk factors and long-term sustainability issues will be addressed. Projects will be required to highlight key external factors that might reduce the benefits of their activities and discuss plans to mitigate these. Applicants will also explain how they see the objectives of their specific projects carrying forward after the initial CEPF funding period. All of this will be shared on the CEPF Web site, allowing other project teams to learn from successful risk mitigation strategies and sustainability measures put in place by various projects. To continue this process after the initial project design phase, grantees will revisit these issues in each of their quarterly project performance reports. The purpose is not only to highlight risk and sustainability at the outset, but also to track these critical issues throughout the life of each project.
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