More than 2,000 people across the Global Environment Facility partnership gathered in Uzbekistan with ambition and pragmatism to welcome the $3.9 billion GEF-9 replenishment and share ideas and energy to propel the sprint towards 2030 international goals.
Delegates from around the world joined roundtable discussions, side events, and workshops on priorities for the next four years, including integration, blended finance, whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches, scaling up support for Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, and Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
Throughout the discussions and high-level proceedings, participants stressed that while environmental challenges are severe and extensive, investments in protecting and restoring nature are helping to build healthier and more resilient economies as well as ecosystems.
“A healthy planet makes lasting development possible,” Interim CEO Claude Gascon told the concluding session of the Eighth GEF Assembly, thanking the Government of Uzbekistan for hosting the flagship gathering and for becoming the multilateral fund’s newest donor to support action in the next four years.
“The last sprint to 2030 has begun. Let us act with urgency. Let us act with purpose. And let us act together — for people, for the planet, and for the many generations to come who will judge what we chose to do with this moment.”