Funding alliance gives Ksh90B to counter ecological decline

Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) are among the beneficiaries of $700 million funding from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), amid ominous warnings of the collapse of the global ecological system.

Representatives of the 186 GEF donor and recipient countries have allocated nearly $700 million in financing focused on chemicals and waste management. They have also approved expansion of two flagship programmes to increase support to IPLCs.

The Global Environmental Facility is a multilateral family of funds dedicated to confronting biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution, and supporting land and ocean health. Its financing enables developing countries to address complex challenges and work towards international environmental goals.

The GEF was created ahead of the ground-breaking Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, to provide the financial means for developing countries to take action on urgent biodiversity, climate, and pollution challenges and generate global environmental benefits.

Crucial partnerships

In the three decades since, the GEF’s remit has grown to include mercury, persistent organic pollutants, and marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction

The partnership includes 186 member governments, as well as civil society, indigenous peoples, women and youth, with a focus on integration and inclusivity. Over the past three decades, the GEF has provided more than $26 billion in financing and mobilised $149 billion for country-driven priority projects.

Its family of funds includes the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund, the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund (NPIF), and Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency Fund (CBIT).

GEF’s governing body, in late December 2024, also approved funds to bolster water and urban resilience and protect biodiverse areas in developing countries striving to meet international environmental goal, in partnership with civil society,

Meeting virtually, the GEF Council approved GBFF project preparation grants for 17 countries, including least developed countries and small island developing states. Adaptation support from the LDCF and SCCF will bolster urban infrastructure in the Central African Republic (CAR), improve water resource management in Pacific islands and help farmers in Yemen.

The council agreed to start negotiations for the ninth replenishment of the GEF Trust Fund (GEF-9) to start early this year. This next four-year funding period (July 2026 to June 2030), aligns with the final push towards achieving key targets across the multilateral environment agreements the GEF supports.

“Our planet’s vital signs are flashing red, we need to work urgently to avert the collapse of the global ecological system that maintains life on Earth. Meeting the 2030 goals has our full attention, and we are committed to moving quickly through GEF-9 to tackle priority environmental needs in an inclusive manner,” GEF CEO and chairperson Carlos Manuel Rodriguez said.

GEF council member Dawda Badjie Banjul from The Gambia noted that addressing the complex environmental challenges facing humanity, requires a systematic approach and collective responsibility, for ourselves as well as the future generations

In their week-long meetings, the council allocated $554 million from the GEF Trust Fund, $93.6 million from the LDCF, and $12.6 million from the SCCF.

The council also reviewed progress by the GBFF, including the setting aside of $91 million for the future funding of new initiatives in 17 countries that received project preparation grants.

The GEF’s family of funds (GEF Trust Fund, GBFF, LDCF, SCCF, NPIF and CBIT), work to meet needs in an integrated, inclusive, and efficient way. They also leverage on the strength of the GEF Secretariat and its policies to ensure maximum impact.

Together, the funds support progress towards meeting the targets of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, Convention on Biological Biodiversity (CBD), Minamata Convention on Mercury, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Combating pollution

The latest GEF trust Fund work programme spans 31 projects and programmes in 133 countries, covering 98 per cent of the world’s least developed countries and 95 per cent of all small island developing states.

The largest portion relates to chemical pollution and waste management, including initiatives focused on agrochemicals, tourism, and PCB (industrial products or chemicals) elimination as well as chemicals and waste finance facility.

It includes an expansion of support for indigenous peoples and community-led environmental stewardship through two flagship programmes – the Inclusive Conservation Initiative (ICI) and the GEF Small Grants Programme.

The second phase of the ICI will be implemented by the World Wildlife Fund. The expansion will increase the GEF’s direct support to IPLCs and provide funding for their stewardship of their lands, territories and waters.

Through direct access to funding, the ICI supports IPLCs to advance self-determined initiatives that can range from monitoring for mercury and illegal mining, developing co-management agreements for national parks, to obtaining legal recognition for land rights.

The first phase of the ICI, implemented by Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), is providing $14.5 million in direct access finance to Indigenous-led organisations across 13 countries, with support ranging from $1 million to $ 2 million per project.

For the Small Grants Programme, two new agencies– Conservation International and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) – will, alongside UNDP, work to scale up financing and technical assistance to community-led environment action.

The GEF Council also approved a new CSO Challenge Programme managed by IUCN focused on supporting local solutions for the environment, including efforts led by women, indigenous peoples and PWDs (persons living with disabilities).

A monitoring report prepared for the council showed that between 2022 and 2024, GEF funding supported more than 130 million hectares of terrestrial and marine protected areas. They also improved sustainable land management practices on 25 million hectares of productive landscapes and averted the release of 840 million tons of greenhouse gases.

The Corporate Scorecard showed that in the GEF-8 period, programming is on track to meet all 10 environmental results targets, with three already surpassed. Government representatives decided to move forward on additional reforms to keep streamlining funding processes to ensure efficiency and impact into the GEF-9 funding cycle.

The council reviewed findings of recent results from the GEF Independent Evaluation Office and heard from the GEF Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel on recent research findings.

Last December’s GEF Council meetings followed the most recent Convention on Biological Diversity Conference (COP16) in Cali, Colombia, which resumes next month in Rome, the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the ongoing negotiations on a new global plastics agreement, whose last meeting was held in Busan, South Korea.

“As we move towards the GEF-9 replenishment and the 2025 COPs, we are represented with an extraordinary opportunity to amplify our collective impact,” said Stockholm Convention Executive Secretary Rolph Payet, noting that we can get to our shared vision of healthier more sustainable world and turn it into a reality.

This, he added, is through building on the strong foundations, championing multilateralism and fostering greater collaboration through the integrated programmes.

Richard Bontjer, GEF Council Member for Australia, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea, will serve as Co-Chair of the GEF Council for 2025.

Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the ongoing negotiations on a new global plastics agreement, whose last meeting was held in Busan, South Korea.

“As we move towards the GEF-9 replenishment and the 2025 COPs, we are resented with an extraordinary opportunity to amplify our collective impact,” said Stockholm Convention Executive Secretary Rolph Payet.

“By building on the strong foundations we have laid, championing multilateralism, and fostering greater collaboration through the integrated programmes, we can turn our shared vision of a healthier, more sustainable world into reality.”

Richard Bontjer, GEF Council Member for Australia, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea, will serve as Co-Chair of the GEF Council for 2025.