BRP gets six months extension

The Biodiversity Research Programme (BRP) for Development in Mindanao was granted a six-month budget-neutral extension by the Netherlands Ministry for Development Cooperation (DGIS), which funds the Programme, for the period 1 July to 30 December 2005 to complete, consolidate and contextualize research results and other program activities to achieve clear research-for-development outputs of the BRP.

The BRP was originally designed as a 10-year North-South collaborative research for development programme on biodiversity and sustainable development for at least two phases. The guaranteed grant period for Phase I covered 1 July 2000-30 June 2005. However, the current policy of the Netherlands government no longer includes the Philippines in the list of Priority Countries for Development Assistance.

Given the extension, the BRP has lined up a number of activities including the integration and consolidation of research results, the conduct of a regional conference-workshop to draw lessons from the BRP experiences for developing similar conservation and development projects in the Philippines and in the Southeast Asian region, the completion of process documentation research, the institutionalization of a database/information management system, and the production and dissemination of information, education and communication (IEC) materials for enhancing awareness on biodiversity conservation.