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Global Environment Facility
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The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a partnership among 178 countries, international institutions, non-governmental organizations and the private sector, based in Washington, DC, that aims to address global environmental issues and support national sustainable development initiatives.1 It also serves as a financial arm for treaties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), distributing $250 million per year to renewable energy and energy efficiency projects that help developing countries meet their treaty obligations.
Background
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Source: GEF.Permission: Fair Use.
The GEF was founded in 1991 as a $1 billion program under the World Bank with the mission of providing funding and oversight for global environmentaland sustainable development projects. The project was restructured in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit to become independent of the World Bank as a separate agency. At the same time, it became the designated financial mechanism for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).2 GEF projects are funded by donor countries. In 2002, 32 countries pledged $3 billion in additional funding to last through 2006, and an additional $3.13 billion was committed at the Fourth GEF Assembly in 2006.3
The first GEF initiatives were implemented by three partner organizations: The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Bank. They were later joined by seven more agencies: The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IaDB), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
The UNDP and World Bank remain the largest entities implementing GEF projects. As of February 2009, UNDP's GEF-funded projects amount to approximately US$ 8.74 billion (US$2.69 billion in GEF Grants and US$6.05 billion in co-financing) representing over 570 full and medium-size projects as well as more than 370 enabling activities.4 GEF also reserves a large pool of funding for the Small Grants Programme (SGP), which supports small-scale activities and the generation of sustainable livelihoods by non-governmental and community-based organizations in more than 119 developing countries.5 SGP funding comprises an additional US$738.7 million ($410 million in GEF grants and $328.7 million in co-financing), about 20% of which is used for climate-related projects. As of the end of 2007, the World Bank had implemented 219 GEF projects with a net GEF Grant commitment of $1.6 billion.6
Climate change related activities
The GEF supports projects addressing climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation that help developing countries and economies meet the objectives of the UNFCCC in the following areas: renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, adaptation and new low-greenhouse-gas (GHG) energy technologies. In helping countries meeting the UNFCCC's objectives, the GEF has supports projects in policy, finance, business skills and models, information, and technology.7 Since climate change can have a great impact on access to water and food as well as disaster prevention and public health, the GEF has been trying to couple development with adaptation.8
Resource Allocation Framework
In September 2005, the GEF began using a Resource Allocation Framework (RAF) to consider a given country's potential to contribute to "global environmental advancement," and the country's chances of successfully putting projects into practice. Similar systems exist at the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).9
GEF-Pacific Alliance for Sustainability
The goal of the GEF-Pacific Alliance for Sustainability (GEF-PAS) is to strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of the GEF's contribution for regional environmental and national sustainable development ventures to Pacific Island countries.10 For example, the program PAS Coastal and Marine Resources Management in the Coral Triangle of the Pacific was approved in 2008 and has been sponsoring oceanic projects in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Palau, Micronesia, Fiji, Timor Leste and Vanuatu.11
The Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change project
Scheduled to take place between 2008 and 2012, the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) project is funded by the GEF and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP). It applies to 13 Pacific island nations, developing plans specific to each nation that address food production and food security, coastal management and water resource management.12 Projects in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands will be centered on food production and food security; Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Samoa and Vanuatu will develop greater coastal management capacity; and Nauru, Niue, Tonga and Tuvalu plan to develop stronger water resource management strategies.13
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Wiki Project | |
| Small Island Developing States | |
| Click here for the template to begin a new country page | |
| Atlantic and Caribbean | Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Aruba; the Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; British Virgin Islands; Cape Verde; Cuba; Dominica; the Dominican Republic; Grenada; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Jamaica; Montserrat; Netherlands Antilles; Puerto Rico; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; São Tomé and Principe; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; and the U.S. Virgin Islands. |
| Pacific Ocean | American Somoa; Commonwealth of Northern Marianas; Cook Islands; Federated States of Micronesia; Fiji; French Polynesia; Guam; Kiribati; Marshall Islands; Nauru; New Caledonia; Niue; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Samoa; Solomon Islands; Timor-Lesté; Tonga; Tuvalu; and Vanuatu. |
| Indian Ocean | Bahrain; Comoros; the Maldives; Mauritius; the Seychelles; and Singapore. |
| Initiatives and Sponsors | |
| Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS); Asian Development Bank (ADB); Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA); Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC); Global Environment Facility (GEF); Global Sustainable Energy Islands Initiative (GSEII); Inter-American Development Bank (IADB); Organization of American States (OAS); Pacific Islands Forum (PIF); Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre (RC/RCCC); Small Island Developing States Network (SIDSNet); South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP); United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO); United States Agency for International Development (USAID); World Bank (WB) | |
| Related Topics | |
Footnotes
1. Global Environment Facility. About Page. Retrieved on : 12 April 2009.
2. Global Environment Facility. About Page. Retrieved on : 12 April 2009.
3. Global Environment Facility. About Page. Retrieved on : 12 April 2009.
4. United Nations Development Programme. About UNDP-GEF. Retrieved on : 12 April 2009.
5. SGP Website, The GEF Small Grants Programme. Retrieved on : 12 April 2009.
6. World Bank Group - GEF Operations. Retrieved on : 12 April 2009.
7. Global Environmental Facility. Climate Change Mitigation. Retrieved on: 11 June 2009
8. Global Environment Facility. Climate Change Adaptation. Retrieved on : 11 June 2009.
9. Global Environment Facility. What is the RAF? Retrieved on : 11 June 2009.
10. Solomon Islands Ministry of Environment. National Adaptation Programmes of Action. November 2008. p. 27. Retrieved on : 14 June 2009.
11. Global Environment Facility. GEF Project Details. PAS Coastal and Marine Resources Management in the Coral Triangle of the Pacific - under the Pacific Alliance for Sustainability Program. Retrieved on: 14 June 2009.
12. China View. Pacific adaptation to climate change program underway. 16 April 2009. Retrieved on: 20 April 2009.
13. China View. Pacific adaptation to climate change program underway. 16 April 2009. Retrieved on: 20 April 2009.
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