USAID Biodiversity Policy
Publication Date: 2024
The USAID Biodiversity Policy provides a blueprint for how the Agency will work to conserve biodiversity in priority places and catalyze nature-positive, equitable development.
Biodiversity—the enormous variety of all life on Earth—is the foundation for human development and survival. Biodiversity provides food, water, clean air, a stable climate, and livelihoods, supporting more than half of the global gross domestic product.
But biodiversity is in crisis. Land and sea use change, overexploitation, climate change, pollution, and invasive alien species are pushing species and ecosystems to the brink. And yet biodiversity has shown that it can bounce back, if given the chance.
With this Policy, USAID will act across sectors to catalyze development in support of a free, peaceful, and prosperous world in which both people and nature can thrive.
What Has Changed Since the 2014 Policy?
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Elevating a nature-positive, equitable approach to development that emphasizes transformative shifts in societal systems to halt and reverse biodiversity loss
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Sharing ownership of biodiversity mainstreaming across sectors at USAID, including expanding nature-based solutions and managing nature-related risks to development
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Strengthening the focus on locally led development and the stewardship of biodiversity by Indigenous Peoples and local communities
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Updating the list of Tier One Biodiversity Missions and Biodiversity Code requirements for Biodiversity funds to emphasize evidence-informed approaches and opportunities for transformative change
