Eighth GEF Assembly

The Eighth Global Environment Facility Assembly and Associated Meetings will be held from May 30 to June 6, 2026 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. 

Building on the momentum of previous gatherings, the Assembly will bring together ministers, heads of international organizations, business leaders, civil-society advocates, Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth from the GEF’s 186 member countries to chart an accelerated path toward global environmental goals. The Assembly, the GEF's highest governing body, meets once very four years.

GEF Council meetings are scheduled from May 31 to June 3. 

A forum built for solutions

Organized in partnership with the Uzbekistan Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change, the Assembly will highlight how the next funding cycle (GEF-9) will strategically invest in environmental action to accelerate progress on biodiversity conservation, land restoration, chemical pollution reduction, and climate resilience through the transformation of key economic systems for sustainable and lasting outcomes at scale.

It will also showcase successful projects and innovations financed by the GEF across various regions, highlighting how collaborative funding can deliver impactful, scalable solutions for environmental sustainability.

Nine high-level roundtables will generate actionable technical and political recommendations and build momentum and alignment across stakeholders feeding into a final ministerial plenary:

1. Science, integration, and systems transformation
2. How can the GEF leverage the conventions and its family of funds to deliver on the 2030 goals?
3. How can blended finance and the private sector bridge the funding gap?
4. How can the GEF increase its resources mobilization by leveraging its public ODA funding in the future?
5. Accelerating delivery for environmental outcomes
6. Leaving no country behind: SIDS, LDCs, fragile and vulnerable countries
7. Leaving no one behind: civil society, women, and Indigenous Peoples
8. Leading the way from the ground: Investing in whole-of-government approaches and policy coherence for scale
9. Forging partnerships for land and water in Central Asia and beyond

Uzbekistan and the GEF: a 30-year partnership

Since joining the GEF in 1995, Uzbekistan has benefited from a diverse portfolio of national and regional grants that have helped conserve unique landscapes, phase out ozone-depleting substances, establish the first bus rapid transit corridor to promote low-carbon transport systems, and build capacities to address environmental challenges, including the Central Asia Transboundary Biodiversity Project and the Aral Sea Basin programs, which foster cross-border ecosystem management and climate resilience. With support from the GEF, Uzbekistan is meeting its obligations under the conventions that it is party to and is participating in the Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration Impact Program and Ecosystem Restoration Integrated Program. 

Overall, $98.8 million in GEF grants and $773.8 million in co-financing have supported Uzbekistan’s environmental agenda, laying a strong foundation for the country’s leadership role at the forthcoming Assembly.