The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council has approved the spending of $736.4 million on hastening efforts to tackle biodiversity loss, climate change, and chemicals and waste pollution, as its CEO urged rich countries to ramp up contributions to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF).
The GEF governing body gave its approval of the grants during its second meeting of the year, held in Washington, DC over June 17-20, including funding for 25 projects through the GEF Trust Fund, 14 climate adaptation initiatives through the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), and the GBFF’s first three projects.
“We need maximum ambition, maximum acceleration, maximum cooperation,” said Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO and chair of the GEF Council, who was appointed to a second four-year term during the meeting.
“The only way we can combat the complex environmental threats before us is through a unified, integrated, and harmonised approach.”
The meeting opened with an agreement on a $495.6 mln spending package on the environment through the GEF Trust Fund, aimed at financing projects across South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Biodiversity projects received the biggest stake of funding with $169.2 mln. These include four initiatives intended to strengthen protected areas in Argentina, Namibia, South Africa, and India.
A separate initiative in India seeks to contribute to halting and reversing the decline of migratory birds while also reducing the pressure on critical wetland habitats.
Besides conservation and restoration activities, the allocation approved by the GEF Council will fund projects on chemicals and waste reduction ($114.3 mln) and climate change ($64.7 mln), among others.
UNDER PRESSURE
The Council also approved $37.8 mln in grants for GBFF’s first three projects – one in Mexico and two in Brazil – aimed at supporting a total of 30.5 mln hectares of marine and terrestrial protected areas.
As the meeting progressed, discussions on the fund’s potential to effectively address the financing gap on biodiversity took centre stage, with Rodriguez calling on developed nations to increase their contribution to the fund.
Launched in Aug. 2023 and administered by the GEF, the GBFF has raised just 226.8 mln so far, with contributions from Canada, Germany, Japan, the UK, Spain, and Luxembourg.
While stressing that more resources are urgently needed, Rodriguez tried to curb calls from some countries – including Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya – to set up a separate global fund for biodiversity under the authority of the COP.
“At a moment where we hear calls for multiple additional financial mechanisms, I strongly believe that we need to come together, not further divide ourselves,” Rodriguez said.
The meeting also saw the approval of $203 mln in climate adaptation funding, the largest LDCF allocation in its history, that will support projects in 11 countries across Africa and Asia, as well as the Great Green Wall initiative, focused on increasing climate resilience and improving land health across the Sahel region.
As well, the GEF Council backed the launch of a new blended finance instrument to be issued by the World Bank.
Dubbed Indonesia coral bond, it will build on the previously funded rhino bond and help connect private capital with urgent conservation needs, the GEF said.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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