'Everything is linked to everything'

Addressing the drivers of environmental damage requires a commitment to work together in bold and broad ways, forge unconventional connections, and learn from both mistakes and successes to inform next steps.

This was the spirit infusing the first Global Forum for the GEF Integrated Programs in Nairobi, where nearly 300 people leading efforts to tackle the root causes of ecological and climate challenges shared insights from their work on some of the world’s stickiest issues.

Bob Watson, one of the world’s most influential environmental scientists, told the forum that our rapidly warming world, land-use change, exploitation of flora and fauna, pollution of the land, water, and air, and the expansion of invasive species needed everyone’s attention, alongside growing strains on agriculture, energy, economic, and water systems.

“All of these issues are fully interdependent,” he told the event co-hosted by the UN Environment Programme, in an intervention with GEF Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel Chair Rosina Bierbaum. “Everything is linked to everything.”

The GEF, the largest multilateral trust fund for the environment, has been working for more than a decade to design and deliver integrated programming across areas such as cities, wildlife, supply chains, plastics, forests, food systems, transportation infrastructure, and the ocean, together with Indigenous Peoples and local communities and the private sector.

Why treat a symptom without addressing the cause? Just like in health, making a lasting difference for the environment requires a holistic approach. This is why the Global Environment Facility partnership is working in an integrated way to ease strains on ecosystems and communities from the drivers of damage, across sectors as well as borders.

Integrated programming will also be central to support provided in the next four-year funding period, known as GEF-9.

“Integrated approaches make it possible to address complex challenges in a lasting way, improving conditions for people as well as ecosystems. Advancing integration will be a major priority that will define our ambition and approach over the next four years,” Interim GEF CEO Claude Gascon told the gathering.

The forum in Nairobi came one week after countries committed to an ambitious ninth replenishment of the GEF trust fund. GEF funding enables developing countries to take action towards meeting the goals of six multilateral environmental conventions – on biodiversity, climate change, desertification, chemicals, mercury, and ocean health.

Participants shared lessons on a range of themes and from differing perspectives to advance the next phase of the GEF’s integrated approach programming, including effective tools and best practices related to governance, stakeholder engagement, leveraging blended finance, and supporting results-based management.

Elizabeth Mrema, Deputy Executive Director of UNEP, emphasized the importance of the forum as an opportunity to bring people together to focus on practical, innovative approaches to move from ambition to action, particularly in support of the 2030 environmental goals.

“As the host of several major multilateral environmental agreements, and as one of the three initial, founding implementing agencies of the GEF, and the home of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel, we are pleased to co-host this important forum,” she said, also noting the importance of participants having connected with local initiatives related to sustainable cities, water resource management, biodiversity, and forests before the series of technical sessions, knowledge cafes, and workshops began. 

“Kenya’s remarkable natural and cultural richness is a powerful reminder of why we do this work: to protect the environment while supporting people and communities.”