Photo credit: Elodie Van Lierde/WCS
At the upcoming IUCN World Conservation Congress, the Global Environment Facility will convene a Whole-of-Society Pavilion and host over three dozen events showcasing the ways the GEF family of funds is working to bring about transformative change for nature. More information can be found on our WCC event page.
All people are dependent upon nature for their lives and livelihoods, and everyone has a role to play in ensuring that we conserve, restore, and sustainably use it. Ensuring that everyone is involved as a partner in conservation, with a voice and an active role to play, reflects our whole-of-society approach to making lasting positive change.
By integrating diverse perspectives into environmental policy and practice, and bringing together resources from different groups in society, this approach is designed to improve conservation outcomes by making efforts more effective, equitable, and sustainable.
This is why the GEF works directly with civil society organizations, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, women, youth, the private sector, and others to achieve and sustain global environmental benefits. GEF projects are designed to create entry points for whole-of-society collaboration, together with governments, and to bring measurable benefits for communities as well as the environment.
This approach also supports policy coherence, an important way to better-implement the multilateral environmental agreements it serves, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, the Minamata Convention on Mercury, and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
What does a whole-of-society approach include?
Inclusivity of Stakeholders: The full and effective participation of all segments of society is essential for successful biodiversity conservation. The GEF ensures this through broad engagement, including through consultative mechanisms such as the GEF Civil Society Organizations Network, the Indigenous Peoples Advisory Group, and the GEF Gender Partnership. Project design also explicitly ensures inclusivity, by mandating broad consultation throughout planning and implementation.
Integration into Policy and Planning: By working across all parts of society, the GEF helps mainstream environmental targets relating to biodiversity, land degradation, pollution, and others into national development plans and cross-sectoral policies, ensuring their integration into decision making at all levels.
IPLC Engagement: The GEF Small Grants Program, the Heart of Conservation Initiative, the Inclusive Conservation Initiative, and the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund are all examples of how the GEF prioritizes direct funding and capacity building for civil society, including Indigenous Peoples and local communities, supporting their effective participation in decision making and ensuring their rights, knowledge, practices, and ways of living are respected.
Youth Engagement: The GEF recognizes the vital role of youth in biodiversity planning, tapping into their energy, creativity, and deep understanding of local challenges to create more responsive and effective strategies to combat biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution. This is why the GEF works with youth constituencies, such as the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, but also other regional networks such as the Youth Network for Central African Forests on programmatic issues. The Fonseca Leadership Program helps bridge the gap between science and policy, supporting young environmental experts to bring their knowledge to the forefront.
Women: Guided by the GEF’s Policy on Gender Equality and partnerships with organizations such as the CBD Women’s Caucus, the GEF supports the systematic and substantive integration of gender perspectives, and promotes women’s empowerment and leadership in every project and program. Women are key stewards of the environment. They have unique skills, knowledge, and experiences that continue to inform and support positive results for the global environment.
Private Sector Involvement: Engaging with private sector representatives, the GEF aims to transform production and distribution systems in agrifood, textiles, tourism, and other economic sectors to become drivers of biodiversity conservation, rather than sources of loss.
Results from the local to the global level
The whole-of-society approach is critical for achieving the goals of multilateral environmental agreements on pollution, desertification, and climate change. The approach also helps to drive transformative change in mindsets and paradigms, shifting from narrowly anthropocentric views to a more integrated understanding of humanity's relationship with nature.
