The Darwin Initiative, run by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Launched at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, the Darwin Initiative funded its first projects in 1993. Since that time the Initiative has provided over GBP 87 million in funding to projects seeking to support biodiversity conservation, and is one of the few bilateral programmes to focus specifically on biodiversity. The original remit of the Darwin Initiative was to support developing countries to achieve their commitments under the newly signed Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The Darwin Initiative is a demand-led fund reliant on applications to shape its impact. The Initiative's agenda has gone through various reviews and evaluations to ensure that it is shadowing Defra's emerging priorities and is capable of supporting key policy areas. As an example, in 2008 the Initiative was expanded to include CITES and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), in recognition of the policy importance of these conventions for achieving sustainable use of biodiversity and because the Initiative is one of the few funding opportunities open to projects supporting these conventions. The Initiative's remit was further expanded in 2009 to include a specific focus on the UK's Overseas Territories, coincident with the launch of the government's Overseas Territories Biodiversity Strategy. This move ear-marked GBP 1.5 million from the Initiative's funds for work in the UK's Overseas territories, ‘recognising the unique problems faced by these remote territories in preserving their biodiversity and ecosystems’ (Defra, 2009, Darwin Initiative 12th Annual Report).
Although significantly smaller than other funding mechanisms supporting the CBD, the Darwin Initiative has made substantial progress towards the sustainable use of biodiversity and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources. An evaluation, commissioned by the Initiative in 2010, reviewed the Initiative's contribution to the CBD's 2010 target. The conclusions of the review highlighted that ‘in its eighteen years, the Darwin Initiative has funded a remarkable range of projects concerned with the conservation of biodiversity … It has addressed often neglected topics or groups of species and some of its projects have had considerable success in often challenging situations’.
Since 1992 756 projects have been funded by the Darwin Initiative in 155 countries. The focus and scope of these projects varies from micro fungi to whale sharks, and from Arctic ecosystems to tropical peat forests. The one variable these projects have in common is scientific rigour, as demonstrated by the 2,225 peer reviewed articles produced by the projects, and the capacity built in developing countries to meet their commitments under the three biodiversity conventions (CBD, CITES and CMS; 394 Masters and 151 PhDs completed).
The Darwin Initiative's impact is, however, measured by more than its academic outputs. The critical measure is the success it has had in biodiversity conservation. Examples include the establishment of a second population of the Seychelles paradise flycatcher on La Digue in the Seychelles, work undertaken to reduce the decline of vultures in India, Nepal and Pakistan, and strengthening of protected area management and support to indigenous groups to govern their natural resources. The Initiative has also been the funder of numerous discoveries, including new taxa such as the dung beetle Canthidium darwini (Kohlmann & Solis, 2009, Zootaxa, 2219, 31–37), the orchid Lagopsis darwiniana (Pyak et al., 2007, Kew Bulletin, 62, 107–111) and a genus, Darwininitium, of land snail (Budha et al., 2012, ZooKeys, 175, 19–26.).
The UK Government's support for the Darwin Initiative is critical for its success and, throughout the last 20 years, regardless of political persuasion, governments have universally supported it. The Initiative has now retained its commitment from the UK Government for a further term despite the current economic climate. Additional funding from the Department for International Development (DFID), in particular, has secured the survival of the Initiative for the next few years.
The addition of DFID funding to the Darwin Initiative brings with it another change in emphasis to project funding: economic development. Economic benefits to local communities and poverty alleviation in developing countries have often been outcomes of successful Darwin Initiative projects because of the inextricable links between biodiversity and livelihoods. From 2012, however, economic benefits will receive more focus, particularly with reference to the driving forces behind biodiversity loss. DFID's core mandate is enshrined in the UK's 2007 International Development Act, with all projects funded by DFID required to meet the requirements of Official Development Assistance. Projects must directly enhance the welfare and economic development of poor people in low income countries. A new funding round for the Darwin Initiative is expected in summer 2012, in which the focus on economic development and human welfare in low income countries will become apparent. To find out more about the Darwin Initiative visit http://www.defra.gov.uk/darwin
