Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund in the Eastern Himalayas

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) was set up to provide strategic assistance to nongovernmental organizations, community groups and other civil society partners to help safeguard biodiversity hotspots - the biologically richest and most threatened areas on Earth.

This is a joint initiative of Conservation International (CI), l’Agence Française de Développement, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. 

A fundamental goal of the programme is ensure civil society is engaged in conserving the hotspots.

Giving a leg up to civil society conservation groups
In the Eastern Himalayas region, WWF leads a regional team for investments, in the form of grants, from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF). The regional team is responsible for implementing the CEPF ecosystem strategy and for building a broad constituency of civil society groups working across institutional and geographic boundaries.

CEPF investments in the Eastern Himalayas Region focus on 76 globally threatened species mostly found in 60 sites within five conservation landscapes.

While all 5 areas are eligible for support, emphasis will be on the Bhutan Biological Conservation Complex, Kangchenjunga-Singalila Complex and the North Bank Landscape, to build momentum in these less-funded areas.

In the Terai Arc and the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscapes, support will be available for targeted and strategic activities to maximize and complement existing funding.