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The World Bank Group (WBG) has a long
experience in engaging in biodiversity with world-class
expertise in the field. It has been the single largest
funder of biodiversity investments since the late 1980s. The
WBG investments have largely been of two kinds: (1)
investments in biodiversity, aimed at the conservation and
sustainable use of species, habitats, and ecosystems that
sustain healthy ecosystems, while enhancing people's
livelihoods and safety nets. These investments have also
been providing jobs and economic development in frequently
impoverished rural areas for example by supporting protected
areas and an increasingly important tourism industry; and
(2) investments that add value to projects in other sectors,
such as irrigation, hydropower, and infrastructure, by
increasing their environmental sustainability. The WBG is a
global center of excellence that provides economy wide
technical and economic knowledge and expertise on
biodiversity and ecosystems. It has the standing and
convening power to facilitate participatory dialogue between
client countries and networks of other relevant stakeholders
on matters of biodiversity and climate change concern, such
as loss of ecosystem resilience, forest law enforcement and
governance, wildlife trade, and overexploitation of natural resources.
