USAID manages a diverse portfolio of projects that conserve biodiversity and sustain forests while advancing development, particularly for vulnerable people who rely on natural resources for their livelihoods. This annual report summarizes the Agency's work in this sector and its importance to human well-being, highlighting discrete and cumulative results in fiscal year (FY) 2012, and how FY 2012 funds were allocated for work in FY 2013.

USAID invested $184 million in FY 2012 funds toward biodiversity conservation in 55 countries.  About half of this funding contributed to $216 million in sustainable forestry activities, for which climate change mitigation funding is the other major component.  Agency programs had a substantial impact and reach in FY 2012, improving natural resource management across 240 million acres of biologically significant areas, larger than California, Nevada and Utah combined. A selection of notable results followed by four in-depth project profiles serve to illustrate major approaches used by USAID and its partners and the role of conservation in transformational development.  Project profiles are:

Turning the Tide of Wildlife Trafficking in Asia
Countering Wildlife Crime through Law Enforcement and Public Awareness

Peru’s Cordillera Azul National Park Holds the Line on Deforestation
Protected Area Management and Conservation Finance

Beyond the Parks: Conserving Rangelands in Kenya
Community-Based Natural Resource Management

Collaboration from Ocean to Plate: Increasing the Safety and Sustainability of Honduras’ Spiny Lobster Fishery
Private Sector Engagement in Fisheries Policy and Management

Additional USAID reports on biodiversity and/or forestry programs are available at www.usaid.gov/biodiversity/impact/annual-reports.