Sustainable Conservation Financing Amazon Basin (OTCA)

active

This regional project to strengthen the Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in the Amazon region aims to improve the monitoring and regulation of international trade in wild animals and plants by expanding regional information and knowledge management systems and introducing an electronic CITES permit system. The recipient of the funding and project sponsor is the Permanent Secretariat of the Organización del Tratado de Cooperación Amazónica (PS/OTCA), based in Brasilia. Member states of the OTCA and indirect beneficiaries of the FC program are Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and Bolivia. The direct target group of the project is primarily the institutions responsible for implementing the CITES Convention in the member states of the OTCA, with a particular focus on the administrative and scientific CITES authorities. The indirect target group of the project is the local population of the Amazon region, which is affected by the illegal and unsustainable trade in animals and plants and the resulting degeneration of ecosystems. The total cost of the project is estimated at just under EUR 18 million, of which EUR 10 million will be financed from FC funds.