Biodiversity

A National Environment Management Plan was developed in 2004 to oversee the socio-economic development and environmental preservation of Guinea-Bissau. It has established a National Department for the Environment and Sustainable Development, which in the future will have the capacity to develop a National Strategic Action Plan (NSAP). Guinea-Bissau has also ratified the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and following this an Institute for Biodiversity and Protection Areas was established in 2005 to coordinate and implement policies on biodiversity and protection areas. The country’s first Marine Protection Area has also been established.

The greatest area of biodiversity resources is in the coastal zone, and it is here that is most threatened by changes in climate. The general level of poverty of the population has exacerbated the environmental degradation of biological resources.