The governing body of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has approved the spending of a record $1.4 billion on accelerating efforts to combat biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution, while its ongoing meeting in Brasilia has also begun discussions on designing the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund.
The approved funds will finance activities across 136 countries in the years to 2026, and is expected to generate another $9.1 bln in funding from other sources, the GEF said in a statement.
“This large and broad infusion of support will enable developing countries including Brazil to respond more strategically to environmental concerns that affect us all,” said Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, GEF CEO and chairperson, and former environment and energy minister of Costa Rica.
“We are very pleased to provide funding on this scale as we look to launch and host the new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund.”
Most of the funds that will now be disbursed will go towards six of the 11 new programmes GEF established last year: Amazon, Congo, and Critical Forest Biomes; Blue and Green Islands; Circular Solutions to Plastic Pollution; Ecosystem Restoration; Eliminating Hazardous Chemicals from Supply Chains; and a Net-zero, Nature-positive Accelerator.
Around $90 mln of the funding will go towards initiatives in Brazil, including support for mapping biodiversity in Indigenous territories.
Seven Amazon countries – Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela – will be recipients of funds going towards maintaining and restoring ecosystems in the region.
One of the many projects that will be co-funded through these GEF funds was a scheme to tackle forest loss and degradation across Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, and Sao Tome and Principe, the GEF said.
As well, $14 mln will go towards Marine Corridor of the Eastern Tropic Pacific (CMAR) project, led by Conservation International, which is linking Marine Protected Areas in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Panama.
The GEF’s contribution is expected to unlock $53 mln in funding from other sources for the projects, which supports biodiversity and conservation in at least 31 million hectares through improved regional ocean governance.
“The programme will prioritise transboundary cooperation by strengthening regional governance, coordinating and growing blue economy investments in the tourism and fishing industries, securing protected areas and enhancing regional connectivity to better conserve migratory species, and support collaborative management across the region,” Conservation International said in a separate statement.
Also covered by the funds via blended finance will be clean energy technology in Chile and India, and sustainable food systems in Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the GEF.
BIODIVERSITY FUND
The GEF Council also hopes to make progress during the four-day Brasilia meeting towards setting up the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, as instructed by COP15 in Montreal in December.
According to the Earth Negotiations Bulleting, discussions on the first day centred around financing sources for the fund, the involvement of private sector funders, access to funds, potentially creating a governing body or advisory bodies, and a number of technical and procedural issues.
The GEF Council meeting will run through Thursday.
By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com
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