Development and Cooperation


	Contributions from the Column Monitor No universal blueprint Growing support for taxing airline tickets Avian flu lessons from Europe “Alternative development” often stops short Wolrd Bank proposes active poverty reduction Zimbabwean success in fighting HIV/AIDS Nature conservation fund for the South Caucasus German development budget expected to rise in 2006 DAC publishes Annual Report 2005 Wold Food Programme buys drought insurance for Ethiopia 04/2006		Nature conservation fund for the South Caucasus Germany is supporting the establishment of a cross-border nature fund for the South Caucasus region. At a conference in mid-March, Germany’s Minister for Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, pledged € 5 million as an initial contribution to the trust fund. Contributions from other donors are expected to increase it to € 40 million. The money is to be used to protect biological diversity in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. In the context of the German Caucasus Initiative, these countries have been cooperating on a joint concept to protect the eco-region, which is one of the biologically richest areas in the world. The project was proposed by the KfW development bank and the World Wide Fund. It is a successful example of cross-border cooperation, which could help to ease conflict in the region (see D+C/E+Z 11/2004, p. 426). (ell)