The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is the private sector arm of the World Bank. It “provides loans, equity, structured finance and risk management products, and advisory services to build the private sector in developing countries.” It has just launched, with support from the Global Environment Facility, a Biodiversity and Agricultural Commodities Program which will “seek to reduce … threats (to global biodiversity) by leveraging market forces at all levels of the value chain (of palm oil, cacao, soybeans, and sugarcane).”
The program will offer advisory services for projects involving the private sector that support adoption of better management practices at the production level, increase the demand for biodiversity-friendly products, and improve financial institutions’ ability to support adoption of biodiversity-friendly practices. The program will also support multistakeholder initiatives that create sustainable markets for agricultural commodities.
I just hope some of those “better management practices at the production level” include the conservation and deployment of agricultural biodiversity in farmers’ fields.