The BTAU project is an RSPB, European Centre for Nature Conservation, and BirdLife International consortium project which seeks to create ‘Pro-Biodiversity’ Businesses (PBBs) through dedicated Biodiversity Technical Assitstance Units, one in each of the following countries: Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland.

The Units will create and apply a public-private partnership approach to exploring business opportunities for safeguarding biodiversity by linking commercial loan funding with public subsidies to produce long-term, site and region-specific economic and nature benefits.

The project began in January 2007 and runs until April 2010. It is anticipated that it could take up to five years for the so called "Pro-Biodiversity Business (PBB) markets to start to become self-sustaining. The future aim is for each BTAU to retain its role but become independent, the staff acting as advisors and the BTAU acting as a catalyst to continue to fuel the market, funding itself through the provision of products and services.

The project explores the specific links between small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), social and economic development in rural areas, and the protection of biodiversity. It will highlight the opportunities and constraints faced by SMEs in managing biodiversity in a sustainable way, while achieving commercial viability.

The BTAU project focuses on those areas of nature that have been recognised as high value and that are included in the Natura 2000 network, these include the large majority of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) as defined under the Habitats and Birds Directives. 

 Birdlife International website

Tools to conserve biodiversity within Europe have traditionally been employed and managed publicly and by nature conservation organisations. Very little has been done to help SMEs to adapt to key legislation such as the Habitats and Birds Directives and the Natura 2000 network, and to put new tools in place on their behalf. The BTAU project attempts to change this and highlight the opportunities that exist for SMEs in the conservation of biodiversity.

There is an ever increasing agenda in the European Union to ensure that business activities do not undermine nature. The current “Business and Biodiversity initiative” of the EU aims to encourage all enterprises to commit themselves to the protection of biological diversity by adopting biodiversity management strategies. The BTAU project is unique in that it is the only set-up in Europe working to create, fund and assist SMEs to achieve such goals.

1. Create added value at the EU level by facilitating the creation of a new pro-biodiversity investment market for the business and banking sector

2. A pipeline of bankable projects delivered for future investment loans for the benefit of biodiversity

The following objectives are to be promoted through the Biodiversity Technical Assistance Units to be established as pilot projects in Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland.

1. Identify in a pro-active manner, a pipeline of bankable biodiversity-related projects;
2. Harmonize concepts and procedures for valuation of biodiversity resources;
3. Strengthen formal and informal networks;
4. Establish operational networks of expertise;
5. Develop bio-tools kits and operational guidelines;

Provide training courses and make accessible information databases.

The project, through the creation of a new pro biodiversity investment market for SMEs, contributes to the European Union’s Target 2010 of halting loss of biodiversity, to the EU Sustainable Development Strategy and to the environmental, social and economic targets of the Lisbon Strategy. The project will seek to establish the exact contribution that pro-biodiversity businesses could have to the implementation of the Lisbon objectives, firstly at the pilot stage in the three countries chosen, then linked to the possible elaboration of a Business and Biodiversity Initiative. In the long term, the presence of SMEs across Europe using biodiversity sustainably, and especially those in Natura 2000/Important Bird Area sites, offers an opportunity for a powerful new instrument for implementing strategies for land management and conservation. 

The project focuses on those areas of nature that have been recognised as high value and that are included in the Natura 2000 network, these include the large majority of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) as defined under the Habitats and Birds Directives.

A four-step screening and selection procedure will be employed in order to develop project ideas into business proposals eligible for investment funding:

Step 1
Construction of a long list of potential pro-biodiversity SMEs
In this step, the relevant national sectors and designated sites will be defined, and a list of potential pro-biodiversity SME’s created through consulting the relevant commercial registers.

Step 2
Intermediate list of potential pro-biodiversity SMEs
In this step, those SME’s which express an interest in participating in the BTAU project and have a good standing and reputation will be identified. Expressions of interest will be acquired through initial correspondence (regular mail or e-mail) or by phone call. Information on reputation can be collected through local bodies such as municipalities, tax authorities, protected area administrations and NGOs.

Step 3
Screening SMEs using the toolkit
During this step, BTAU project staff will visit the enterprise and interview the management in line with the toolkit checklist. Where necessary, sector-specific questions will be formulated by the BTAU in each country. In addition, the compliance of the proposed activity with existing legislative and regulatory framework (EU directives and national legislation) will be checked. (Regulatory compliance matrix under development)

Step 4
Short list of eligible pro-biodiversity SMEs
Those SMEs that successfully pass Step 3 will be offered technical assistance from the BTAU project for developing a bankable pro-biodiversity business proposal eligible for funding by the Biodiversity Finance Facility.