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The 67th meeting of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) held from June 17-20, 2024 ended with an approval for $736.4 million in funding. A total of 34 nature protection and renewal projects have been provided funds. These include 19 projects under the GEF Trust Fund, three under Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), 12 under Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and one under the Multi-Trust fund. Other than this, funds have also been provided to a blended finance project.
The GBFF council approved the new fund’s very first work programme -- allocating $37.8 million for protected area management in Brazil and Mexico. The three GBFF-funded projects will improve the sustainability of more than 30 million hectares of protected areas on land and at sea, with long-term financing and support for indigenous people-led conservation.
Four programmes under the GEF Trust Fund include the Sustainable Cities Integrated Program and those aiming to address chemical and waste pollution in Bolivia’s cement, textile, brick and glass sectors and in Brazil’s cement industry.
Two projects financed by the GEF Trust Fund are in India. The first one is dedicated to enhancing conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity to meet the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets. A total of $6.7 million have been sanctioned for the project that aims to augment India’s protected area network and expand community and private conservation areas.
The second project focusses on conservation and sustainable management of wetlands, forests and grasslands to secure the population of migratory species along the Central Asian Flyway in India. For this $10.7 million have been made available.
There are many projects supported by the fund which will help the world meet the 30X30 target of the Biodiversity Plan. These include a project in Argentina, to which $6.3 million have been made available for reducing ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss in seven protected areas and their buffer zones; a project in Central Asia seeking to strengthen protected area management and combat biodiversity loss for which $11.7 have been made available; another in Namibia to preserve the country's Protected Area Network by creating enabling conditions for long-term financial sustainability, including with the operationalisation of the Game Product Trust Fund, for which $37.8 million have been made available.
Chief executive and chairperson Carlos Manuel Rodríguez said, “The only way we can combat the complex environmental threats before us is through a unified, integrated, and harmonized approach.” “We are at a moment of truth for the planet. We need to rise to the challenge by assessing what we have, where we need to go, and how we will get there."
The GEF Council will meet next in December 2024. On the agenda would be the ninth replenishment funding cycle of the Trust Fund. GEF-9 will stretch from 2026 to 2030 – a period aligned with the final push for 2030 global environmental goals and targets set under the Biodiversity Plan.