2015
Annual Report

About CEPF

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) provides grants to nongovernmental and private sector organizations so they can conserve some of the most biologically diverse yet threatened ecosystems—the world’s biodiversity hotspots. The investments are even more meaningful because these regions are home to millions of people who are impoverished and highly dependent on natural resources.

The fund is a joint program of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. Enabling civil society groups to have stronger voices and exert greater influence in the world around them is the hallmark of our approach.

Our grantee partners range from small farming cooperatives and community associations to private sector partners and national and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Chrome

We salute the CEPF grantees who work so hard, often under difficult circumstances in far-away places, to save the last remaining habitats for species in danger. We are honoured to be part of their work.

Maaike Manten Manager, CEPF regional implementation team, Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspot

That’s where the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund comes in, as an innovative partnership. That’s what we need. We need partnerships that can really deliver.

Braulio F. de Souza Dias Executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity

Many farmers like me have begun to understand that the conservation of our soil and our forests is critical to our own well-being.

Jacobo de León Beneficiary, PRONATURA project in the Dominican Republic
Hotspot Strategies Implemented
Grantees Supported
$M
Grants Committed
$M
Amount Leveraged by Those Grants
M
Protected Areas Created (hectares)
For more information, please visit www.cepf.net.
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Our Grants

  • Target biodiversity hotspots in developing and transitional countries.
  • Are guided by regional investment strategies—ecosystem profiles—developed with local stakeholders.
  • Go directly to civil society groups to build this vital constituency for conservation alongside governmental partners. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to implement the conservation strategy developed in each ecosystem profile.
  • Help governments meet targets related to the U.N.’s Convention on Biological Diversity, Framework Convention on Climate Change, and Sustainable Development Goals.
  • Create working alliances among diverse groups, combining unique capacities and eliminating duplication of efforts.
  • Achieve results through an ever-expanding network of partners working together toward shared goals.
Learn more