The Intervention Fund for the Environment (FIE) is the result of the desire of the State of Burkina to have a new financial tool to meet the environmental challenges of the country. Its vocation is to become a new lever of financing to mobilize additional national financing, as well as additional external funds, related to the environment, to the sustainable management of natural resources and to climate change.
By creating the FIE, Burkina has a durable and national and flexible tool, exceeding the life of projects / programs alongside the state budget. The primary purpose of this financial instrument is to support the achievement of the country's environmental objectives in terms of the living environment, the sustainable management of natural resources and growth patterns that ensure sustainable development.
The FIE is also an economic tool with positive effects on Burkina Faso's growth, by reducing current trends of environmental degradation and therefore related economic losses. It is also a generator of direct economic development by supporting the development of a green economy, promising sectors or the creation of green jobs. The FIE is also called to be a tool in the service of the national objectives of fight against poverty, thanks to a mode of intervention taking into account the poorest populations and the vulnerable categories, often those most exposed to the degradation of the Environment and Natural Resources.
The FIE is also intended as a unifying tool, bringing together existing or planned funds in the Environment sector, in order to rationalize management, reduce costs and eventually have a coordinated vision of sector financing.
Thus, through the FIE, the State also sets up the Forest Fund provided for in the Forest Code and the Climate Fund in accordance with the international conventions that have been ratified in the climate field.
WHY A FIE?
The environmental situation in Burkina Faso has become increasingly worrying in recent years. Indeed, whether it is the phenomenon of land degradation, pollution and nuisances, unanimity emerges at the level of the various actors concerning the negative consequences of the strong pressures on natural resources over the last ten years.
Environmental impacts are direct and indirect with loss of natural resource capital, soil erosion, depletion of wildlife and flora, and so on. Burkina Faso's current development is not based on sustainable production and consumption patterns, and this puts at risk the rights of future generations.
The economic impacts are also serious. Environmental damage generates economic inefficiencies estimated at about 20% of GDP, or about 760 billion FCFA per year of losses related to environmental degradation. On a social level, these negative impacts particularly affect the poorest households who derive the majority of their income from agriculture, livestock and natural resources in general.
The priority environmental problems identified in the 3rd State of the Environment Report in Burkina Faso are:
- climate changes;
- land degradation;
- the degradation of the potential for water resources;
- the unsustainable energy system;
- urban environment problems; the erosion of biodiversity.
An analysis of the causes of these problems shows a lack of funding for environmental actions. Although the budget of the Ministry of the Environment has increased slightly in recent years, there is still an average deficit of more than 100 billion FCFA / year for programs related to the environment and natural resources. .
However, Burkina Faso currently has only two main sources of funding for the Environment: on the one hand, the State budget, insufficient, absorbed to a large extent by the administration's operating expenses and not very flexible. On the other hand, external financing marked by their limited duration (projects and programs of 3 to 5 years) and sometimes the complexity or cumbersome procedures. The existing funds in the sector, outside the budget of the administrations, are non-existent or with very weak resources. The part of the budgets of the Territorial Communities devoted to the environment and natural resources is very small.
It is aware of this situation that the Government of Burkina Faso has operationalized the Environmental Response Fund.
