STATUS: Project Closed (2015 – 2021) and was rated ‘Highly Satisfactory’
The Biodiversity and Land Use Project, funded by the Global Environment Facility through the United Nations Development Programme, underwent an independent terminal evaluation from August 2021 to October 2021 and achieved a ‘highly satisfactory’ rating. This is the highest rating on the Global Environment Facility rating scale.
A total of 99 people were interviewed for the evaluation, with 59 people interviewed virtually, 11 site visits undertaken with 40 individual face to face interviews, 19 group interviews and 1 focus group discussion. Of the 99 people interviewed as part of the project’s terminal evaluation, 47 was male and 52 female.
The project achieved 95% of its targets of which:
50% was exceeded and 45% achieved and 5% was not achieved.
Some key project achievements:
| US$ 71.2 million co-financing received from project partners | 119 project partners from government, NGOs, private, research, communities and landowners |
195 capacity building sessions benefiting 5 500+ participants
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Investing in the future: 74 % of BLU staff members were youth whose capacity was built through this project. |
The Biodiversity and Land Use Project (aka Mainstreaming Biodiversity into Land Use Regulation and Management at the Municipal Scale) was initiated in 2015 to support municipalities in effectively regulating land use to ensure that biodiversity continues to provide essential ecosystem services to municipal residents. The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) implemented the project, together with its partners, with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) though the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The overarching objective of the project was to: Minimise the multiple threats to biodiversity by increasing the capabilities of authorities and land owners to regulate land use and manage biodiversity in threatened ecosystems at the municipal scale.
The project had two components namely:
Component 1: Land-use regulation and environmental management: The Project’s Environmental Management as well as its Planning and Land Use Management programmes of work was undertaken under this component. Please click here for more information on component 1.
Component 2: Incentives on private and communal land: Please click here for more information on component 2 where the Project’s Land Reform and Biodiversity Stewardship work, its land under improved management as well as the tax incentives work were undertaken.
Click here for more information on the BLU Project’s deliverables against its Strategic Results Framework.