Mainstreaming biodiversity in the development of  the Yangtze River Economic Belt Safeguarding biodiversity in Yangtze River Economic Belt by integrating biodiversity considerations in the productive sectors and municipal development Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency. This project targets to achieve value of economic, social and environmental benefits generated by the GEF interventions. It is envisaging thriving and sustainable production landscapes, and nature's value and benefits are safeguarded in the long term.   Local socio-economic development in the YRB is closely linked to the extent of local water environment and the scale and rate of urbanization, and the threats to local biodiversity from water pollution and urbanization can only be eliminated or reduced if the biodiversity is mainstreamed in the policy and planning of local government development and economic. The results of this project will be beneficial to the recovery of the fishery resources in the Yangtze River, the sustainable development of tourism, and the enhancement of various ecosystem service functions. The ecological monitoring and coordination mechanisms and biodiversity-friendly production practices in the YRB will contribute to the sustainable improvement of water quality in the Yangtze River, the sustainable recovery of economically important fish and rare and endangered species populations, and more sustainable water and land resource use practices. In turn, these sustainable improvements will contribute to the development of ecotourism and new high-tech industries in the YRB, and provide employment opportunities for more people, especially women, youth and the low-income groups, thereby increasing their income from biodiversity conservation. In addition, the results of this project will contribute to the sustainable improvement of ecosystem service in the YRB in terms of provisioning, support, regulation, and culture over a wider region and longer period of time, and the improvement of these services will support sustainable and high-quality socio-economic development of the country and region, as well as these support the achievement of global environment benefits.  Almost all activities designed under output 2.2 of this project are implemented locally, which will provide an excellent opportunity for direct participation of relevant local workers, farmers, women, ethnic minority and low-income people. Low-income groups will be especially encouraged and invited to participate in this project.  In particular, this project is showing how socioeconomic benefits translate in supporting the achievement of global environment benefits in Yuexi County’s tea gardens. Relevant domestic and international studies have shown that organic farming practices are conducive to increasing the biodiversity richness of farmland, do not cause environmental pollution by chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and are one of the effective measures to conserve biodiversity in vast rural areas. Yuexi County has superior natural geographic conditions for growing tea trees, with 12,000 hectares of existing tea plantations and 2,100 hectares of organic tea plantations in 2020, which will increase the annual income of tea farmers by more than USD 250 per capita. According to recent survey, Yuexi County reduces the use of chemical fertilizers by about 60 tons and the use of pesticides by more than 10 tons per year due to the development of organic tea gardens. This project will support the selection of organic agriculture and biodiversity experts to guide relevant local technicians in activities such as biodiversity-friendly organic tea development planning, organic conversion practices and organic product certification, which will not only enable local farmers, women and the poor to increase their income through the sale of high value-added tea, but also raise their awareness and knowledge of biodiversity conservation. With the support of this project, Yuexi County government hopes to formulate an organic development planning, conduct organic conversion practices of existing traditional tea gardens and certification of organic tea so as to eliminate or significantly reduce the negative impact of pollution from trational tea production on local biodiversity. The project will also support the expansion and replication of organic tea gardens to more townships throughout Yuexi county through local training activities and awareness campaigns, and that will eventually also contribute to global environmental benefits.