Promotion of Policy Reform for Biodiversity Conservation
USAID Missions are engaged in institutional and policy reform in host countries to support site-based biodiversity conservation efforts.
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Community Forestry Agents in Guinea are empowered
to manage local natural resources as a result of policy
reforms promoting decentralization. |
Policy reforms in host countries are wide ranging and diverse. They include the creation of departments of parks and wildlife conservation, creation of national systems of protected areas, establishment of protected area management structures, and the development of national environmental action plans. The Agency has also assisted host countries in introducing policies that provide incentives for biodiversity conservation particularly on private lands, increasing awareness of these policies and in helping implement them.
A major emphasis in policy reform has been the promotion of decentralization and devolution of natural resource management to the local communities in many host countries. For example, in Namibia, USAID has assisted community organizations in gaining legal recognition and rights over natural resources. This has increased local responsibility and ownership over these resources (including wildlife), thereby increasing incentives to sustainably manage them.
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