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The Chairperson and CEO of the GEF, Mrs. Monique Barbut was on an official visit to Ethiopia on September 1st, 2011 and met with H. E. Mr. Meles Zenawai, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Mr. Jean Ping, the Chairman of the African Union Commission. Mr. Meles Zenawi is also the spokesperson for the African Union at the level of Heads of State on Climate Change.
The Prime Minister and the CEO discussed GEF’s continued support to Africa and lauded GEF investments in the regions. They discussed GEF’s role in support of the three main priorities of Africa namely the Great Green Wall initiative ($ 100 million), the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem ($ 49 million) and Lac Chad (under preparation, $20 million).
The CEO commended the Prime Minister’s lead role on behalf of Africa in the ongoing Climate Change negotiations. She emphasized GEF's contribution in the ongoing work of the Transition Committee for the Green Climate Fund. Both the CEO and the Prime Minister recognized the huge challenges to the successful operationalisation of the Green Climate Fund, citing the current international political and financial environment as the main obstacle. Both expressed hope to see good prospect in the ongoing discussions for long term climate financing.
The Prime Minister appreciated the opportunity to discuss GEF-related matters and stated that the time was opportune in preparation for COP17 of UNFCCC in Durban, South Africa. The Prime Minister raised concerns over limited progress made in Copenhagen, on some key issues, including fulfillment of pledges and the lack of appetite to the Kyoto Protocol. He also warned against the risk of the COP process dying of neglect or on empty rhetoric. In that context, the Prime Minister spelled out issues of importance to Africa: long term financing, fulfillment of commitment by developed countries, answers to the specific needs of Africa, especially on the question adaptation, technology transfer, capacity development and adequate and fair representation in decision making. He stated that Africa’s main priorities in Durban will be to work towards saving the negotiations and pushing for the use of all the delivery mechanisms.
The CEO briefed the Prime Minister on the transformations the GEF has undergone to address most of the concerns of developing countries, especially those of Africa. Among other improvements she listed, country ownership and driveness approaches of the organisation, balance governance and the retooling of implementation modalities to allow for direct access. She also cited the transparent allocation system of resources, reduced project cycle and many policies now in place to make the institution more efficient. The CEO emphasized that the GEF is diversifying its network of agencies and partners and managing several funds, including the adaptation fund.
The CEO argued that on the basis of these reforms and its experience, the GEF should be given a central role in the architecture of the Green Climate Fund. She was of the opinion that the Green Climate Fund should have a coordination function rather than be established as another additional and parallel window. She added that approaches for financing should be carried out to reinforce synergies between land degradation, climate change and biodiversity, which the current concept of the Green Climate Fund fails to accomplish. The CEO underscored increased attention she has given to Africa’s specific issues and the excellent cooperation she has with the African ministers in charge of environment.
The CEO invited the Prime Minister to keep these unique features and comparative advantage of the GEF in the discussions inside his constituency, noting that whenever Africa is united on one issue in international negotiations, it has always obtained what it wants. The Prime Minister and the CEO agreed to plan for a side event in Durban to promote the three main priorities of Africa: Lake Chad, the Great Green Wall Initiative and the Congo Basin Forest.
In her visit with the Chairman of the African Union Commission, the CEO acknowledged how GEF has provided approximately $2.1 billion in grants to countries in Africa through 813 projects. She noted how the underperformance of African countries of the earlier cycles of the GEF had been reversed and that in the current cycle, no less than USD 0.5805 billion will go to Africa, with about USD 210 million for climate change mitigation. On the issue of adaptation that is key to Africa, the CEO stated that under the LDCF, Africa will get the lion share of the GEF resources, with about 2/3 of the LDC countries being from the region and made specific reference to the recent GEF financing of major African Union Programmes; the Great Green Wall Initiative, the Congo Basin Forest and Lake Chad as well as the West Africa Energy and Biodiversity Programmes and the Sustainable Land Management under TerrAfrica programme.
Mrs. Barbut spoke about her regular participation in the sessions of the African ministerial Conference on the Environment and confirmed her participation at the upcoming AMCEN session in Bamako (10-15 September 2011). The Chairman was pleased to note the comprehensive nature of GEF investment in the major programmes of the African Union and presented the main priorities of the African Union, including the issue of adaptation, technology transfer, long term financing and capacity building. The Chairman also indicated his availability for the side event planned in Durban.