The project will support the development and implementation of policies, plans and regulations that ensure that economic development in the Red Sea is consistent with sound environmental management to protect the shared marine resources of the Red Sea coastal zone. Project components include institutional strengthening, development of public-private partnerships to ensure sustainable environmental management, data analysis and system monitoring.

The project expects to demonstrate interfuel substitution and technological innovation as a means of reducing CO2 emissions. GEF funds will be used to extend coal-to-gas conversions to medium-size boilers whose owners could not achieve acceptable financial rates of return without concessional financing.

The project aims to: (a) reduce the input of hydrocarbons into the international waters of the Mediterranean; (b) ensure commonality of approach, regulatory policies, and methodologies; (c) promote exchange of information and coordination of implementation; (d) utilize national data sets to assess long term regional trends in marine pollution, both for national coastal waters and for adjacent international waters; (e) enhance the national monitoring capability; and (F) develop a coastal environmental management framework.

The project aims to protect the Romanian Delta ecosystem and contribute to the conservation of biodiversity within the Delta. It will strengthen institutional capacity to monitor and manage protected areas effectively, work with local community groups to ensure sustainable resource use and restore some wetlands to their natural condition by testing various approaches and monitoring their impact.

This project will develop analytical techniques for identifying and quantifying the principal sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the production, transport and utilization of natural gas. It will also develop methodologies for ranking the most cost-effective projects for reducing GHG emissions, define the criteria for asessing eligibility and incremental costs, and strengthen the institutional structures and the technical capabilities required to apply the techniques in planning and implementation.

This project will identify and establish in-situ conservation areas for the protection of genetic resources and wild relatives of important crops and forest tree species that originated in Turkey, providing for sustainable in-situ conservation of genetic resources in cereals, horticultural crops, medicinal plants, forest trees, and pasture grasses and legumes through an integrated ecosystem approach. Project components include site surveys and inventories, gene management zones (GMZ), data management, a national plan for in-situ conservation, and institutional strengthening.

As part of the regional Environmental Action Plan for the Gulf of Aqaba, the project will (a) develop regional collaborative mechanisms for strengthening the capacity to protect coastal zone and marine biodiversity; (b) develop and enforce the legal framework and regulations for control of transboundary pollution; (c) provide safeguards against oil pollution; (d) establish and implement guidelines for sustainable development of the coastal zone; (e) assess the effects of wastewater seepage on the quality and level of the transboundary water table; (f) implement a plan to control solid waste im

Project objective is to address the root causes of the overuse and pollution of water in the Aral Sea Basin, support the sustainable mgmt. and future development of its natural resources by formalizing, and then implementing the first stage of, a regional strategic action plan. Project will help 5 states sharing the Basin to (a) develop and implement regl. and natl. water mgmt. strategies and agreements focusing on water uses, efficiency and sharing, (b) assess water quality problems, develop cost-effective strategies to improve water quality, (c) expand and upgrade monitoring and regl.

The first of three groups of sub-projects in the GEF-supported Russian ODS Phaseout Program, this project will eliminate annual consumption of approximately 2573 metric tons of weighted, ozone-depleting substance potential, or about 5% of Russia's 1992 weighted consumption, through (a) replacing CFC propellant with hydrocarbon aerosol propellant in a major spray-products enterprise and (b) replacing CFC-12 with a propane/butane mixture in a refrigeration products enterprise.

Rehabilitation of gas transmission and distribution systems to eliminate methane gas losses and improve pipeline network performance. Main components will focus on safety and operational efficiency of the transmission and distribution system, and selection of cost effective measures to reduce gas leakages through a program of environmental upgrades. The associated Bank project includes a gas pricing reform program which will encourage efficiency and conservation in gas consumption in the future.