One of the important initiatives of the ECOA in the quest for nature conservation and the integral development of communities of the Pantanal is their engagement with the IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands (IUCN NL).

The IUCN NL, which met for the first time in 1978, acts as a bridge between civil society organizations, governments, companies and research institutions around the world, with the goal of protecting the integrity and diversity of nature, encouraging sustainability in the use of natural resources.

Among its activities, the IUCN/NL financially supports non-governmental organizations (especially in developing countries) that work with nature conservation and environmental improvements related to poverty alleviation. In this sense, it promotes important actions through its Ecosystems Grants Programme, known as EGP, a small grants fund that subsidizes conservation activities promoted by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which operates in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

In Latin America, the priority region for the program (called the Focal Region) is the Paraná-Paraguay River Basin, which covers the following countries: Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. Three selection announcements were made during the first cycle of activities of the EGP in the Focal Region of the Paraná-Paraguay River Basins (2007-2010).

This initiative has enabled 41 leading NGOs, active in the region (small, medium and large-sized) to obtain funds for developing their actions, through the support of 43 projects, distributed as follows: 16-supported initiatives in Brazil, 09 in Argentina, 08 in Bolivia, 07 in Paraguay and 03 in Uruguay. The projects that have been developed over this period are based on themes considered as extremely relevant and in line with regional priority for the Focal Region. The themes, known as Focal themes are as follows: 1) Biofuels and soybeans; 2) Protected Areas; 3) Environmental Services (Threats to ecosystems and their services); 4) Environmental Conservation with Community Participation in Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources; 5) Capacity Building of Civil Society and Environmental Education, and 6) Political Incidence.

The regional approach & the Focal Point

The regional approach employed by the EGP, based on previous experiences of IUCN NL with other programs of small grants, aims to strengthen the synergy between the organizations in the region and consequently: (a) to expand the reach and impact of individual projects (b) the exchange of experiences among organizations, and (c) to strengthen the capacity of political incidence of NGOs. By establishing a Focal Region, the EGP unites countries that share landscapes, lifestyles and problems and that together seek to overcome their environmental and social challenges.

The existence of the Focal Point is foreseen as part of this approach: an organization that supports the IUCN NL in the Focal Region and facilitates the implementation of the foreseen activities. The ECOA was chosen by the IUCN NL as a Focal Point for the development of the actions of EGP in the Paraná-Paraguay Basin, and its job is to facilitate the linkage between all NGOs supported by EGP in the Focal Region, as well as providing or facilitating the technical support for the development of projects. Therefore it promotes synergy between the participating NGOs with other regional institutions, such as research institutes and other non-governmental organizations, thus leading to an increased scope and quality of projects assisted by the EGP.

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About IUCN: The International Union for Conservation of Nature is one of the oldest and largest global organizations operating in the environmental scenario. Founded in 1948, it assists governmental and non-governmental organizations around the world, as well as local communities, businesses and agencies of the United Nations to, together, find solutions to the big challenges involving the search for development coupled with the conservation of natural resources.

For further information:
http://www.iucn.org
http://www.iucn.nl/funds/ecosystems_grants_programme/