Washington, D.C., April 8, 2003
— The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, today announced Global Environment Fund approval of the Conservation of the Eg-Uur Watershed, a $1.9 million project to protect a threatened fish species, Hucho taimen, and its rich biodiversity environment, while providing a sustainable source of income to local nomadic communities in Northern Mongolia.
The Global Environment Facility contributed $1 million to establish a concession system through a public private partnership with local communities, non governmental organizations, and private companies. The Taimen Conservation Fund, a Mongolian NGO, is the recipient of the grant money, and will be appointed the task of developing a financially sustainable conservation management system for this remote Mongolian watershed. This investment represents IFC’s first ever investment in a river conservation project
The Taimen Conservation Fund was established with the support of one of the leading US international-destination flyfishing outfitters, Sweetwater Travel, and its local partner, Hovsgol Travel. IFC is working closely with these companies, and two locally-based NGOs -- World Wide Fund for Nature Mongolia and Mongolian Business Development Agency , in collaboration with the communities in the region, have developed a system that will complement traditional practices of the local nomadic communities.
“The critical innovation of this project is that we are helping empower local community inhabitants and companies in a very remote, underdeveloped region of Asia to sustainably manage their own natural resources in ways that are both culturally and environmentally sensible and economically feasible to them,” said Gavin Murray, IFC’s director of the Environment and Social Development Department.
This plan will protect environmentally sensitive areas along more than 200 kilometers of the Eg River and provide a system to sustainably use one of Asia’s wildest and most beautiful waterways The goal of the project is to treat previously unvalued natural resources, namely wildlife, as locally managed concessions. “We recognized that an abundance of the biodiversity in its wild state, in this particular watershed, has a substantial monetary value to flyfishing operators for low-impact forms of its use – catch-and-release fishing,” said Jeff Liebert of IFC. “The challenge is to design a system that ensures equitable distribution of the financial returns of the concessions to the local communities, which we believe that we have accomplished.”
Although traditional Buddhist beliefs in Mongolia preclude the local inhabitants from using fish for subsistence or commercial consumption purposes, catch-and-release fishing allows the investment to maintain traditions while promoting a low-impact form of tourism. According to the president of Hovsgol Travel, Mr. Purevdorj, the preservation of religious traditions is a critical underlying condition of the project. Dan Vermillion, president of Sweetwater Travel, added, “We have been quite fortunate for the past seven years to give our clients the opportunity to catch and release these beautiful fish in an environment which harks back to another time.” The conservation of the Eg-Uur Watershed will enable conservation- oriented flyfishing companies, such as Sweetwater Travel and Hovsgol Travel, to continue to sustainably use the natural resources of nomadic Buddhist communities in culturally acceptable ways..
The mission of IFC is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets,
helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. Since its founding in 1956 through FY02, IFC has committed more than $34 billion of its own funds and arranged $21 billion in syndications for 2,825 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC's worldwide committed portfolio as of FY02 was $15.1 billion for its own account and $6.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.
