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The Biodiversity and Agricultural Commodities Program

The expansion of agriculture is the leading cause of habitat destruction and a major threat to global biodiversity. The Biodiversity and Agricultural Commodities Program (BACP) will seek to reduce these threats by leveraging market forces at all levels of the value chain. This will help to mainstream the use of Better Management Practices (BMPs) that decrease the impact of production on biodiversity. BACP will work in partnership with major players in four commodity markets who are willing to adopt more sustainable practices.

The commodities concerned are palm oil, soy, cocoa and sugarcane, which today cover approximately 144 million hectares globally (2008 FAO estimate). BACP now works in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, which are major producers and exporters of these commodities. Projects in other countries will be welcome as the program unfolds.

Status


Phase I (five years) of this ten-year program, which has been approved by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), has started implementation (see flyer [PDF]). TThrough an international call for offers, Chemonics International was selected to host the Program Management Unit (PMU) of the BACP. Ecoagriculture Partners will be in charge of the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Unit.

The BACP Steering Committee has been formed (see Terms of Reference [PDF]) with representation by GEF, IFC, the World Bank, and the roundtables. The Steering Committee has approved the Market Transformation Strategy for Palm Oil [PDF] and the BACP Project Selection Criteria [PDF].

Individual project proposals must fit into the corresponding market transformation strategy and follow the BACP Implementation Procedures Manual [PDF]. The PMU will work closely with the commodity roundtable and IFC in its selection of projects for BACP funding.

Documents for download:

Newsletters:

Request for Applications

Organizations interested in submitting applications under the current Requests for Applications (RFA) must follow the guidance and instructions provided in the respective RFA. Applicants are strongly encouraged to carefully review these materials and submit their proposal in accordance with the instructions provided in them. Any questions regarding these RFAs must be submitted to bacppmu@chemonics.com.

Soy Request for Applications 2010-2/Soy

This Request for Applications (RFA) is composed of the following documents:

Palm Oil Request for Applications 2009-2/PO

This Request for Applications (RFA) is composed of the following documents:

Successful Applicants To Date

IFC has approved the following soy projects for implementation under BACP:

IFC has approved the following palm oil projects for implementation under BACP:

  • Zoological Society of London (ZSL) [PDF]: Increasing the effectiveness of Biodiversity-Related RSPO Principles and Criteria. Submitted by Lead Partner — Zoological Society of London.
  • Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) [PDF]: RSPO Biodiversity Technical Committee and RSPO Biodiversity Coordinator. Submitted by Lead Partner — Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil.
  • PanEco Foundation [PDF]: Pilot Study to undertake palm-oil cultivation according to RSPO-guidelines on fallow land, in the context of relocating palm-oil concessions threatening the last remaining high biodiversity coastal peat swamp rainforests of Aceh. Submitted by Lead Partner — PanEco Foundation.
  • Fauna & Flora International [PDF]: Supporting sustainable palm oil production through private-public partnerships for landscape-based High Conservation Value Forests (HCVF) assessment. Submitted by Lead Partner — Fauna & Flora International.