The International Conservation Budget 2014

The International Conservation Budget 2014 details U.S. government initiatives to protect global biodiversity and natural resources. It highlights the strategic link between conservation and national security, noting how resource scarcity and illegal wildlife trafficking fuel instability and terrorism. The report outlines funding and activities across agencies including USAID, the Department of the Treasury (via the Global Environment Facility and Tropical Forest Conservation Act), the Department of State, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Key efforts include combating wildlife trafficking, managing transboundary landscapes through the SCAPES program, and implementing REDD+ initiatives in Mexico and the Amazon. The document emphasizes the role of public-private partnerships and community-based natural resource management in achieving sustainable development and protecting critical ecosystems across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

• The U.S. government views international conservation as a foreign policy priority because natural resource scarcity and biodiversity loss are linked to global security risks, including regime instability and the financing of terrorist groups.
• Illegal wildlife trafficking is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that funds insurgencies and criminal syndicates, with specific links to groups such as Sudan’s Janjaweed militia, the Lord’s Resistance Army, M23, and al Shabaab.
• Illegal trade in natural commodities negatively impacts the U.S. economy, with the illegal timber trade costing U.S. businesses approximately $1 billion annually and illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing estimated between $10 billion and $24 billion per year.
• The Global Environment Facility (GEF) acts as a high-leverage financial tool where every U.S. dollar invested raises approximately 52 additional dollars from other partners.
• The Sustainable Conservation Approaches in Priority Ecosystems (SCAPES) program implements large-scale conservation across 17 countries, including vulnerability assessments for climate change in the Andes, Himalayas, and Ruvuma Landscape.
• Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) in Namibia demonstrated significant economic success, with benefits to rural communities increasing from roughly $600,000 in 2000 to over $6 million in 2010.
• The Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) uses 'debt-for-nature swaps' to reduce the debt of strategic countries in exchange for forest conservation; as of December 2013, it had concluded 19 agreements with 14 countries.
• The Amazon Region Protected Area Program (ARPA), funded by the GEF, is described as the most ambitious global forest protection initiative, contributing to 37 percent of the total decrease in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon between 2004 and 2009.
• The Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI) involves 10 governments committing to protect at least 20 percent of their near-shore marine and coastal environments by 2020.
• The U.S. government has implemented a 'whole-of-government' response to wildlife trafficking, including the 2014 National Strategy on Combatting Wildlife Trafficking and the use of the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program to target networks like the Xaysavang Network.

APA

Millan, B., & Gartshore, W. (2014). The International Conservation Budget 2014. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/486/vm8x6erf_icb_2014.pdf

Chicago

Millan, Bill, and Will Gartshore. The International Conservation Budget 2014. WWF International, 2014. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/486/vm8x6erf_icb_2014.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Millan |first1=Bill |last2=Gartshore |first2=Will |title=The International Conservation Budget 2014 |publisher=WWF International |date=March 2014 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/486/vm8x6erf_icb_2014.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{millan2014international, author = {Millan, Bill and Gartshore, Will}, title = {{The International Conservation Budget 2014}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2014}, month = mar, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/486/vm8x6erf_icb_2014.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }