2016 Annual Report
About CEPF
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) empowers people in developing and transitional countries to protect the world’s biodiversity hotspots—some of the most biologically rich yet threatened ecosystems that are vital to humanity.
By providing grants to civil society—nongovernmental, private sector and academic organizations—CEPF implements conservation strategies that are developed with local stakeholders. These investments are especially important because the hotspots are home to millions of people who are impoverished and highly dependent on nature for survival.
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.
Hotspot Strategies Implemented
Grantees Supported
Grants Committed
Amount Leveraged by Those Grants
Protected Areas Created (hectares)
Our Grants
- Are guided by ecosystem profiles—analyses of the biodiversity and socio-economic conditions in hotspots—that are produced through consultation with local stakeholders and result in regional conservation strategies.
- Go directly to civil society groups in the biodiversity hotspots to build this vital constituency for conservation alongside governmental partners.
- Are awarded on a competitive basis.
- Contribute to governments’ efforts to meet targets related to the U.N.’s Convention on Biological Diversity (the Aichi Targets), Framework Convention on Climate Change, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- 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.
Photo Credits
Leader of the Green Hill community, Tana Island, Vanuatu. © Olivier Langrand
Tuokexun County, China. © Heng Wang
© Conservation International/photo by Michele Zador