Global Environment Facility (GEF)

At the 64th Global Environment Facility (GEF) council meeting in Brazil, the governing body approved the disbursement of $1.4 billion to accelerate efforts to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises.

Key-highlights

• Of the total fund, $653 million has been set aside for biodiversity. This would be used to help countries update their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, biodiversity programmes and meet the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) agreed in December.
• The funding package includes support for 136 countries and has a significant focus on action to address species and habitat loss, in line with the GBF.Keeping this in mind,
  • 47 per cent of the funds have been earmarked for work on biodiversity
  • 16 per cent for climate change
  • 12 per cent for land degradation
  • 11 per cent for international waters
  • 6 per cent for chemicals and waste
• The Latin America and the Caribbean region is getting the most of the funds, followed by the Africa region.
• Out of the 18 implementing agencies for GEF; the United Nations Development Programme is getting the maximum funds followed by the UN Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization. 

About GEF

• The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.
• The Global Environment Facility has a unique governing structure organized around an Assembly, the Council, the Secretariat, 18 agencies, a Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel, and the Evaluation Office.
• It is the longest standing dedicated public climate change fund.
• It is a Financial Mechanism for five major international environmental conventions:
  • the Minamata Convention on Mercury
  • the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
  • the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD)
  • the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
  • the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• The GEF provides funding to India for work in three major areas: biodiversity, climate change, and land degradation.