Harrison Ford Joins GEF and other dignitaries to showcase Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund

October 26, 2010 – Nagoya, Japan

 

Award winning actor and conservationist Harrison Ford joined the GEF and other stakeholders to celebrate a decade of achievement for the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund. CEPF is a joint program of l'Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank Group. This innovative partnership has engaged more than 20 industries as partners in biodiversity conservation, including tourism, fisheries, cocoa, coffee, mining, rice, wine and forestry.

Private sector partners include De Beers Namaqualand Mines in South Africa, Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union in Ghana and Unilever in the Philippines.

Ford spoke along with GEF Natural Resources Team Leader Gustavo Fonseca on the sidelines of the 10th Conference of the Parties for the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Among CEPF's achievements:

• Established more than 80 networks of civil society groups, creating a new model in regions where conservation historically has been characterized by isolated and fragmented approaches, such as in Sumatra and the Guinean Forests of West Africa.
• Enabled the adoption of at least 25 sectoral policies, laws and regulations in support of biodiversity conservation and mainstreaming conservation into development policy at local and national levels. In the Philippines, Presidential Executive Order 578 declared all key biodiversity areas identified by CEPF to be “critical habitats”.