the World Bank along with Conservation International (ci), a global non-profit organisation and the Global Environment Facility (gef), the main funder of biodiversity conservation programmes, have jointly taken the initiative for conservation of biodiversity of threatened areas in some developing countries. A sum of us $150 million have been granted for the project. The ci, the World Bank and the gef each will give us $25 million to the fund in the next five years. The remaining us $75 million will be sought from other donor agencies.
Six regions in East Asia and Pacific region are considered to be the most threatened areas of the world. These include Indo-Burma which includes Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam; the Mountains of South-central China; Micronesia; the Sundaland of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei; and Wallacea in Indonesia. The project aims to involve local groups and communities by supporting them financially to promote conservation efforts at the grassroots levels. "The biggest problem for biodiversity is poverty," said James Wolfensohn, World Bank president.
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