The International Surroundings Facility’s governing board will begin 2024 with choices on greater than $1 billion in funding for local weather change adaptation, biodiversity, ocean well being, air pollution management, and extra, because the GEF household of funds continues to develop the help it offers throughout a number of worldwide environmental conventions.
The GEF Council will contemplate a $916 million work program – the second-largest within the multilateral belief fund’s historical past – throughout its Feb. 5-9 gathering. The representatives of the GEF’s 186 member international locations will even contemplate $203 million in adaptation financing from the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), and can represent the very first board assembly of the brand new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF).
Every of those GEF-managed funds are gearing up for a high-stakes 12 months the place international locations reeling from file warmth and disasters will meet for Conferences of the Events on biodiversity, local weather change, and desertification, and advance collaboration on chemical compounds, plastics, the ocean, and wildlife.
“If there may be one lesson from 2023, it’s that we now have no time to lose. The GEF is working to shortly and effectively deploy all assets that donors have entrusted to us for the 2022-2026 interval in order that we are able to generate most advantages for our recipient international locations and for the planet,” mentioned Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, GEF CEO and Chairperson.
“We stay up for gathering with our Council members to evaluation our progress as a GEF partnership and preserve fueling optimistic momentum in environmental cooperation by means of quick, efficient help for impactful and inclusive initiatives that may construct a greater future.”
Every greenback within the proposed GEF work program spanning 77 international locations is predicted to mobilize one other $8.90 in co-financing from different sources.
The package deal of proposed grants will help tasks associated to biodiversity, local weather change, meals methods, forest administration, land degradation, river and ocean well being, chemical compounds and waste, and wildlife. It additionally consists of $570 million for Built-in Packages that deal with the drivers of environmental degradation by means of a cross-cutting strategy.
4 extra tasks are really useful for help from the GEF Belief Fund in addition to the 2 local weather adaptation funds managed by the International Surroundings Facility – the LDCF and SCCF.
Including to the GEF work program financing, Council members will contemplate one other $203 million for LDCF and SCCF for local weather adaptation tasks in Least Developed International locations, Small Island Growing States, and different creating nations. The LDCF/SCCF work program is without doubt one of the largest within the adaptation funds’ historical past and displays rising calls for on these distinctive automobiles to assist international locations enhance their resilience in fast-changing situations.
Council members will even evaluation preliminary tips for the enabling actions and ratification help tasks that the GEF can present for the brand new UN Conference on the Regulation of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine organic variety of areas past nationwide jurisdiction, identified by the acronym BBNJ. Adopted in 2023, this settlement identifies the GEF Belief Fund as a part of its monetary mechanism, which is a widening of the GEF’s scope of help past worldwide conventions on biodiversity, local weather change, desertification, mercury use, and poisonous chemical compounds. Such actions might be instrumental in selling speedy entry into power and swift implementation of the treaty.
Lastly, nation representatives will meet for the primary time as Council of the brand new GBF Fund, which events to the Conference on Organic Range requested the GEF to host simply over a 12 months in the past after they agreed in December 2022 on new targets that creating international locations will want monetary help to satisfy. Since then, the GEF has formally established the fund, enabled its ratification, ready a programming framework, and guided its preliminary capitalization, in preparation for the fund’s first Council assembly.
The GBFF Council will contemplate a proposed set of insurance policies figuring out how donor assets might be allotted, and the way tasks supported by the fund might be reviewed and authorized. It is going to additionally evaluation proposed budgets for the fiscal years 2024 and 2025 and talk about plans for advisory teams that may help for the governance of the brand new fund. Reaching this stage has been the results of intensive and devoted consultations with key stakeholders throughout the GEF partnership and past.
The GBFF’s first work program is predicted later this 12 months, with financing by the top of 2024.
GEF Director Claude Gascon mentioned the environment friendly institution of the GBFF in addition to the massive work applications to be thought of by the GEF Council as 2024 will get underway have been reflective of the International Surroundings Facility’s agility, and talent to shortly deploy assets the place they’re most wanted.
“We’re nicely forward of schedule in programming and deploying the file assets that donors have entrusted us with, placing us on monitor for main headway towards worldwide environmental targets,” Gascon mentioned. “The GEF is dedicated to persevering with to extend our effectiveness all through this funding cycle and into GEF-9 with a concentrate on integration, inclusion, and impression.”
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