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Meeting virtually, the Global Environment Facility’s governing body approved a set of decisions to better position the partnership to help countries work towards biodiversity, pollution, and climate targets.
GEF Council members, who represent constituent groups of the multilateral fund’s 186 member countries, endorsed two new initiatives: a strategy for knowledge management and learning, and an approach to enhance policy coherence through operations.
The new strategy on knowledge management and learning is designed to allow the GEF to ensure that lessons learned from the projects and programs it funds are shared in a more systematic way.
On enhancing policy coherence, the GEF aims to ensure that measures to support nature renewal and protection are not undone by efforts that destroy or damage countries’ natural resources. One component of this approach aligns with Global Biodiversity Framework Target 18, which is focused on reducing subsidies and incentives harmful to biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year by 2030.
Council members also reflected on integrated efforts across the international conventions for which the GEF is a financial mechanism, and looked ahead to the upcoming COP28 climate conference in Dubai and the Minamata Convention on Mercury’s conference of the parties in Geneva.
GEF CEO and Chairperson Carlos Manuel Rodriguez thanked participants for their efforts to ensure that international cooperation for the environment continues to advance in a unified and comprehensive way.
“Our ultimate goal and aspiration is to help countries in ways by which their policies, incentives, and legal frameworks are 100 percent aligned with the Paris Agreement, Global Biodiversity Framework, and chemicals and waste goals and targets,” he said.
Delegates decided on three Council meetings in 2024. The 66th meeting will take place from February 5-9 and the 67th meeting from June 17-21. Both meetings will take place in-person in Washington, DC, with the possibility for virtual participation. The 68th meeting will take place virtually from December 16-20.
For official decisions, please see the Joint Summary of the Co-Chairs. A more detailed summary with photos is available from IISD Earth Negotiations Bulletin.
