CAF presented the results of the Andean Bio-trade Fund

With the participation of 50 organizations belonging to the public and private sectors, and multilateral entities, a balance was presented regarding the Andean Bio-trade project being implemented at the same time in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia. 

The results of the project, whose objective is to protect and take advantage of the biodiversity of the region in a sustainable manner, shows that Bio-trade is an important ally for the conservation of the environment and its diversity in the Andean region. 

Andean Bio-trade started in March of 2010, and will end in December of 2014 with a total financing of over 14 million Dollars between GEF funds and counterparts. CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, is the executing agency at a regional level, and UNEP is the implementing agency. 

One of the main achievements of the Andean Bio-trade project is the leverage of financial resources, where financing for Bio-trade initiatives has increased significantly with respect to the base line. It currently has institutions that provide specialized financial services to initiatives that benefit from them. 

This initiative, in the current and future Bio-trade environment, has created a strategy that will allow an improvement in results based on the systematization of experiences, achievements, and lessons learned during these years of the Project's execution. 

Bio-trade in the Andean region has become and element of competitiveness and inclusion, with an impact on the base of the pyramid, relieving poverty and creating innovative alternatives that seek to make conservation feasible in a sustainable manner.