PRESS RELEASE
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On May 26, the Council of the GEF approved the role of the Secretariat as the operator of the fund, with the Government of Japan reaffirming its pioneer contribution of 1 billion Yen (about $12 million US dollars). Japan’s commitment was joined by additional declarations of financial support to the fund of 1 million Euros (about $1.4 million) from the Government of France, with additional contributions from the Governments of Norway and Switzerland.
Establishment of the fund comes less than four months after the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization was opened for signature at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
The GEF, as the financial mechanism of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other international environment agreements, will manage the new fund and encourage additional contributions. The World Bank will serve as the trustee of the fund.
Last fall in Nagoya, Japan, 193 countries at the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD approved, after years of negotiations, a global agreement called the Nagoya Protocol. The Protocol establishes the ground rules for how nations should cooperate to access and to share the many benefits that come from the sustainable utilization of genetic resources of all living organisms. The Conference of the Parties also determined that the GEF will be the financial mechanism of the Protocol.
The Government of Japan, acting as the President of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD, last year proposed the establishment of a new voluntary fund at the GEF to help developing countries build their capacity to engage in both the ratification and implementation of the Protocol.
“We see this as a groundbreaking opportunity to add economic and social value to biodiversity and genetic resources, in particular to local and indigenous communities who have in the past not benefited as they should,” said Monique Barbut, CEO and Chairperson of the GEF. “With the leadership of Japan, the GEF is proud to host this new fund, and provide timely support to the developing countries to ratify and implement the Nagoya Protocol.”
The fund is specifically designed to support countries looking to build enabling activities to ratify the protocol as well as finance projects at the national and regional levels that will promote technology transfer, private sector engagement, and the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources. The fund will also help Parties build capacity to ensure appropriate access and use of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources. Resources will also be used to heighten awareness for the Protocol, including through the use of new knowledge management tools.
“Japan appreciates GEF’s support to jump-start a new fund that will rapidly bring developing countries to build their capacity to ratify as well as conserve and utilize their valuable genetic resources," said the Japanese Environment Minister, Mr. Matsumoto, who played a key role in facilitating the signing of the agreement in Nagoya. “We also expect that the private sector will become a key partner and funder to this mechanism”.
The framework under the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing holds the promise to ultimately create a level playing field between the biodiversity-rich developing countries and those that hold technological advantages in adding economic value to genetic resources.
Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the CBD added: “We applaud Japan not only for their outstanding leadership in bringing international stakeholders together around the new Protocol agreed in Nagoya, but also for providing the needed seed funding for its implementation.”
“As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the GEF, this new fund represents another historical moment for the financial mechanism of the CBD, which is demonstrating continued responsiveness to COP guidance as well as revealing its ability to incorporate new instruments within the realm of global environmental financing. I call on other donors to provide additional financial contributions to ensure the early entry into force and speedy implementation of this historical new legal instrument at the service of sustainable development”.
Photo credit: IISD Reporting of GEF 40th Council Meeting