CEPF investment in the region can be sustainable beyond the 5-year term if it can leverage larger funds and fill current funding gaps in conservation, especially by supporting, complementing and creating synergy with ongoing efforts of other key partners in the priority corridors and sites. Improving corridor management through development and implementation of conservation action plans can help ensure that existing reserves and linkages are effective in achieving conservation objectives. Identifying and protecting sites that harbor globally important, isolated populations of globally threatened species are also an important objective. Increased transboundary cooperation will better assure effective conservation at regional scales, which is important since landscapes, species movements and distributions, and threats transcend national boundaries. Small grants targeted at conservation of globally threatened species would ensure that these species receive the attention of the conservation community and serve as indicators for conservation success in the region. Model projects to promote alternative income generation for local communities and sustainable resource use are good investments that will demonstrate the benefits of sustainable nature use and become self-financing in the long run.
Assistance and training to NGOs, CBOs and other civil society institutions, and mentoring the future conservation leaders from the region will ensure that local organizations gain professional tools and training to participate in conservation with a sense of ownership and stewardship, and—importantly—a commitment to sustain conservation after external funds run out. But compensatory mechanisms such as sustainable resource use will provide incentives for conservation, while also boosting local economies, which is a critical motivating factor for civil society stakeholders. By investing in developing conservation awareness and advocacy among the local communities, CEPF will help derive support for biodiversity conservation from policy makers and politicians, emanating from the grassroots constituents. By focusing and supporting conservation strategies in priority corridor outcomes that support priority landscape species, CEPF can make wise investments that will make the best and most effective use of limited resources.
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