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The presentation was made before 100 experts from government, local and international NGOs, academia, and the private sector at the GEF's first side event at the CBD COP 11. The GEF plays a unique role in helping Parties mobilize sufficient resources to achieve the biodiversity targets set in 2010 at the CBD COP10 in Nagoya, Aichi province, Japan.
As the new CEO and Chairperson of the GEF Dr. Naoko Ishii declared: "The GEF, in its role as the financial mechanism of the CBD and consistent with its mandate, is poised to provide the catalytic funding necessary to help countries achieve the Aichi Targets. However, achieving the Aichi Targets will require more than money. To have the transformational results that the Strategic Plan aspires will demand landscape-level and sector-wide approaches that integrate the sustainable management of biodiversity into multiple sectors. If biodiversity remains solely in the purview of the environment sector, the achievement of the Aichi Targets will prove impossible."
Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, in his role as the Executive Secretary of the CBD, added: "The issue of mobilizing financial resources is unfinished business from the otherwise immensely successful COP-10 held in Nagoya, Japan. The Convention needs to agree to feasible targets to mobilize the technical, human and financial resources to enable Parties to achieve the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets. This CBD COP 11 here in Hyderabad is expected to adopt targets to mobilize financial resources from all sources to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets."
Regarding the GEF he said: "The CBD looks forward to the GEF playing a more active role in leveraging financing of projects in the developing world, which contain the bulk of the world's biodiversity, to ultimately generate sustainable financing to maintain its natural capital."
THE GEF AND THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (CBD)
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which has 193 Parties, provides the global policy framework to address biodiversity issues and is the only binding multilateral agreement in this area. The CBD also provides the guidance under which the GEF — as the CBD's financial mechanism — operates to assist countries in meeting their obligations under the Convention. The objectives of the CBD are defined in Article 1 as "... the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over those resources and to technologies, and by appropriate funding."
A Memorandum of Understanding rules the relationship between the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the CBD and the GEF.5 In accordance with Article 21 of the Convention, the COP determines policy, strategy, program priorities and eligibility criteria for access to and use of financial resources available through the financial mechanism, including monitoring and evaluation. In translating the COP guidance to operational policy for implementation, the Secretariat, in consultation with the GEF agencies, assesses how the guidance can best be implemented. The GEF defines new or strengthened strategic objectives and approaches, modalities, operational criteria, procedures and any other process needed and presents them for GEF Council approval. In applying COP guidance in project operations, the GEF and its agencies support country-driven, national priority projects and programs endorsed by relevant GEF focal points.
Contact
Mr. Christian Hofer
Senior Communication Officer
Phone: +1 202 458 0936
E-mail: chofer@thegef.org
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About the Global Environment Facility
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) unites 182 countries in partnership with international institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs), and the private sector to address global environmental issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives. Today the GEF is the largest public funder of projects to improve the global environment. An independently operating financial organization, the GEF provides grants for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants.
Since 1991, GEF has achieved a strong track record with developing countries and countries with economies in transition, providing $10.5 billion in grants and leveraging $51 billion in co-financing for over 2,700 projects in over 168 countries. Through its Small Grants Programme (SGP), the GEF has also made more than 14,000 small grants directly to civil society and community based organizations, totaling $634 million. For more information, visit www.thegef.org.
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