On the occasion of the 41^st  GEF Council meeting, the GEF Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) released four publications to address the science behind some of the most relevant emerging global environmental challenges; and provide specific practical advice on how to address these challenges through GEF interventions.

Two of these publications – “Hypoxia and Nutrient Reduction in the Coastal Zone” and “Marine Debris: Defining a Global Environmental Challenge In” – belong to the first category, and inform the GEF Council, its partners and the global environmental community about the growing threats facing our oceans – namely the increasing number of oxygen-depleted zones caused by eutrophication and hitherto unrecognized damage to marine ecosystems from plastic pollution, respectively.  These two documents reflect upon our increasing understanding of consumption and production patterns on land, and their impact on the global health of the oceans – potentially with irreversible consequences for its ecosystems. In addition to looking at the scientific evidence behind these problems, the STAP documents propose a range of innovative ways on how to address these pressing global environmental concerns, particularly by the GEF.  

The third document, “Selection of Persistent Organic Pollutant Disposal Technology for the GEF”, provides practical advice to  GEF recipient countries and the GEF Agencies on the selection of environmentally sound technologies for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) disposal; thereby, addressing a prolonged advisory gap. This document is timely given the increasing number of GEF proposals addressing the priority actions identified by the National Implementation Plans, including the disposal and management of POPs stockpiles and waste.

The fourth document, STAP’s advisory document on “Experimental Project Design in the GEF”,  describes and justifies how the GEF can leverage its project investments to generate more credible evidence about what works and under what conditions through experimental project designs.

The science and course of actions covered in these four documents also apply to the wider scientific community, practitioners in the field, and policy-makers working on the global environment.