Actions to conserve biodiversity will have to be taken in sectors other than nature conservation, such as land-use planning, regional development, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, transport and tourism. The need to integrate biodiversity conservation into other policy sectors is therefore a crucial part of the process to conserve biodiversity.
Develop mechanisms in order to allow a considerable contribution from government approved large industrial, urbanisation and rural development projects, but at least 5% of the project costs, to be allocated to biodiversity conservation or restoration in or near the project region (recommendation of Tilburg Manifesto).
Government departments responsible for regional planning and agriculture need to take account, in their planning and activities, of the need to safeguard biological and landscape diversity in border areas, in protected areas as well as outside these areas, and to promote a link between ecological integrity and socio-economic needs.
This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.
Agenda 21 recommends building capacity, especially within governments, business enterprises and bilateral and multilateral development agencies, for integrating biodiversity concerns, potential benefits and opportunity cost calculations into project design, implementation and evaluation processes, and for evaluating the impact on biological diversity of proposed development projects.
Though biological criteria may be used as a basis for identifying broad areas of interest (of high conservation value) for conservation interventions, social criteria must dictate the choice of specific sites.