50th Council Meeting will focus on Africa, MEAs, and Biodiversity.
From June 7-9, 2016, the GEF Council will meet for the 50th time. Following the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement last year, the meeting comes at a critical moment for the future of the planet and its peoples.
It is also a special meeting because 2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the GEF being at the forefront of tackling the planet’s most pressing environmental problems. In its 25-year history, the GEF has invested some $14.5 billion – and leveraged additional $75.4 billion – for nearly 4,000 projects in 167 countries.
What started as a pilot program on the eve of the Rio Earth Summit, has developed today into a unique partnership that unites 183 countries, 18 partner agencies and a growing network of representatives from civil society and the private sector.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary, the GEF and its partners are looking back on the successes achieved together, and the challenges that lay ahead.
“The GEF has proved to be the visionary creation many hoped it would be,” said H.E. Isabella Lövin, Minister of International Development Cooperation of Sweden. “Like no other organisation in the field, the GEF has been able to unite interrelated concerns such as biodiversity, chemicals and waste, ocean management and climate change.”
In the Seychelles, “GEF support has assisted in establishing the protected area estate and continues to fund the expansion to include less-represented ecosystems,” said Wills Agricole, Principal Secretary of Energy and Climate Change of the Ministry of Environment. “To assure social inclusion, GEF has also supported the piloting of fisheries management and co-management plans, engaging the fishing community, and engaged tourism operators to better manage private islands and associated coral reefs.”
50th GEF Council Meeting
The GEF Secretariat will update the Council on the Integrated Approach Pilots (IAPs), and topics ranging from result based management to gender, knowledge management and the future directions for accreditation of new agencies will be discussed at the Council Meeting. A beta version of the new GEF website will also be launched.
Building on the decisions taken at the Paris Climate talks, the GEF is also helping establish a new Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT), and supporting developing countries in achieving their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The Council will decide on the creation of a new CBIT trust fund, with pledges of financial support expected.
Also on the Council agenda is a work program that addresses land use change and habitat restoration, over-exploitation of marine fisheries, unsustainable practices in the agriculture sector, and the environmentally sound management and disposal of many POPs and other chemicals.
If the work program is approved as submitted, 82 recipient countries will benefit from GEF support across the globe, including 30 Least Developed Countries, and 21 Small Island Developing States.
The Work Program has a strong emphasis on biodiversity and natural resource management, with a particular focus on Africa, and includes the resubmission of the Global Partnership on Wildlife Conservation and Crime Prevention for an expanded set of countries.
Combating the illegal trade in wildlife is a high priority for the GEF. The global program aims at stopping poaching, trafficking and demand for wildlife and wildlife products illegally traded between Africa and Asia. It is a comprehensive effort to protect threatened species and their habitats, with a suite of investments to address the problems and look for short and long term solutions in the source, transit and demand countries.
A special campaign by UNEP in the run-up to World Environment Day (WED), which this year is themed "Wild for Life”, is urging politicians, celebrities and business leaders to help bring global attention to the fight against illegal wildlife trade. The GEF is supporting the campaign which will also be promoted in the margins of the 50th Council meeting.
During the Council meeting, the GEF will host a special commemorative celebration at the National Museum of Natural History on June 7.
It will also celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), and host a special session with the heads of the Convention secretariats that it serves, including the UNFCCC, UNCBD, UNCCD, and the Minamata Convention.