The Iullemeden sedimentary groundwater basin is located in Mali, Niger and Nigeria with minor, non-connected sections in Algeria and Benin. The aquifer system, which covers an area of 525 000 km2 with 31 000 km2 in Mali, 434 000 km2 in Niger and 60 000 km2 in Nigeria, represents one of the major freshwater reservoirs of West Africa and is linked to many humid areas and ecosystems.

The overall objective of the Danube Regional Project is to complement the activities of the ICPDR required to provide a regional approach and global significance to the development of national policies and legislation and the definition of priority actions for nutrient reduction and pollution control with particular attention to achieving sustainable transboundary ecological effects within the DRB and the Black Sea area.

The overall objective of the project is to increase the quality and flow of environmentally sound investment projects in developing countries and countries with economies in transition, thereby supporting the goals of MEAs.

1.The World Bank-GEF Investment Fund (IF) is the investment arm of the GEF Strategic Partnership on the Black Sea/Danube Basin which also funds two regional projects, the Black Sea Ecosystem Recovery Project for the Black Sea littoral countries and the Danube Regional Project in the Danube Basin, both focusing mainly on capacity building activities. The Fund constitutes a proposed envelope of US$70 million, to be approved by the GEF Council in three tranches, to partially grant-finance investment projects in the Black Sea/Danube Basin that aim at nutrient reduction.

This project seeks to continue and enhance the efforts of the GEF to: (i) promote in-depth understanding of the GEF’s strategic directions and programming modalities; (ii) strengthen country coordination and ownership in GEF operations and project implementation review, and (iii) achieve greater mainstreaming of GEF activities into national planning frameworks and coordination and synergies amongst the GEF focal areas and convention issues at the national level. The project will also contribute to strengthening the capacity of national focal points.

Therefore, the proposed NCSA project would allow the country to conduct a thorough self assessment of the capacity needs, priorities and constraints facing national initiatives in order to comply with global environmental management objectives as set forth in the Rio Conventions and related international instruments.

The primary objective of the Tongan NCSA is to carry out an assessment of local capacity to address global and national environmental issues and concerns, and to develop a plan for implementation of key activities to achieve capacity building needs as identified through the assessment, particularly those relating to the CBD, UNFCCC and UNCCD.

The objectives of NAPAs are: - To serve as simplified and direct channels of communication for information relating to the urgent and immediate needs for adaptation - To facilitate capacity building for the preparation of initial national communications, and addressing urgent and immediate adaptation needs.