Photo credit: Roger de la Harpe/Adobe Stock
In a continued demonstration of the innovative nature of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), its Advisory Group and Auxiliary Body are meeting on May 14 and 15, in advance of the June meeting of the Fund’s governing Council.
The GBFF was established in record time by the Global Environment Facility, in response to a decision by the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, as a mechanism to support implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Its first full-sized projects are already under implementation in Mexico, Brazil, and Gabon, with a work program of three more projects to be considered by the Council in June.
The GBFF possesses an innovative governance body that balances representation of donor and recipient countries, while also allowing inputs from non-sovereign current and potential contributors, such as sub-national governments, the private sector, and philanthropies.
The Auxiliary Body to the GBFF meets virtually on May 14. The body is established to provide technical advice and recommendations to the GBFF Council on implementation of the programming directions in a comprehensive and independent manner. Sixteen participants, representing 11 different GEF constituencies, will participate in this 2nd meeting.
The Advisory Group on Non-Sovereign Participants to the GBFF will meet on May 15, also in a virtual format. This will be the first meeting of the group that provides technical advice to the GBFF Council and the GEF Secretariat on ways to engage non-sovereign contributors, including on GBFF implementation, and scaling up resource mobilization. Non-sovereign contributors include subnational governments, the private sector, and philanthropies. The Government of Quebec, which mobilized close to $1.4 million in support of the GBFF late last year, will participate in this meeting. To date, almost $382 million has been raised in two pledging sessions.
These two meetings will be preceded by an observers’ briefing that gathers representatives of civil society, Indigenous Peoples and local communities , women, youth, and the private sector.
