Instituto da Biodiversidade e das Areas Protegidas (IBAP)

The Institute for Biodiversity and Protected Areas is a national institution with a mandate to manage biodiversity and Protected Areas (PAs) in Guinea-Bissau. Supervised by the Minister for the Environment, this institution has administrative, financial and patrimonial autonomy, and therefore has the capacity to develop policies and standards related to the conservation of biodiversity and PAs.

Created in 2004, IBAP is responsible for protecting and managing Guinea-Bissau's Biodiversity, through the National System of Protected Areas (SNAP) and to this end, three objectives were defined:

• Promote the safeguarding of ecosystems and biodiversity;
• Support the creation and management of Protected Areas;
• Promote the rational and equitable use of natural resources.

With a network of collaborators distributed between the headquarters in Bissau and the 8 Protected Areas, this institution develops its activities throughout the national territory, having as its field of action all areas of activity in the biodiversity and PA sector, which include natural or established reserves, parks and classified forests. These activities focus on strengthening the effective, collaborative and integrated management of ecosystems, based on a perspective of biodiversity conservation and support for sustainable development.