Enhancing MERESE through Habitat Banks: A Dual Approach to Biodiversity Financing in the Peruvian Amazon

implementation

The objective of the project is to carry out the institutional and technical design of MERESE-BIO as an innovative financing mechanism for biodiversity conservation in the Peruvian Amazon, building on the successful Payment for Ecosystem Services Mechanism (MERESE). The project will seek to develop an appropriate and comprehensive framework that combines voluntary conservation agreements with market instruments, and will identify two pilot projects in a high-integrity forest zone (ZEAV) and a priority restoration area (EPR) as proof of concept for the new mechanism. It will also evaluate and define the most suitable financial structure to ensure its sustainability, along with a regulatory and institutional framework to support its scaling. Through the strengthening of environmental governance, the coordination of public, private and community stakeholders, and resource mobilization, the project aims to reduce pressures from deforestation, ecosystem degradation and species loss, generating benefits for local and indigenous communities and contributing to the fulfillment of global biodiversity commitments.