This project will assist Uruguay with the enabling activities necessary to undertake the third national inventory and to prepare the Second National Communication (SNC) to the Conference of Parties in accordance with guidance of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In addition, this project will help strengthen Uruguay’s capacity to fulfill its commitments to the UNFCCC on a continuing basis.

Several major transboundary problems affecting the Benguela Current ecosystem have been identified during PDF-B works, the principal one being the decline of commercial fish stocks and non-optimal harvesting of living resources exacerbated by natural environmental variability. Additional concerns are the deterioration of water quality due to mining and drilling activities, the loss of critical habitats and threats to biodiversity.

The Yellow Sea is one of the most intensely exploited areas in the world. Approximately 10% of the world population lives in the area that drains to the Yellow Sea. This Sea is a semi-enclosed basin, shallow but reach in resources, and its waters are a highway for international shipping. Large cities, among them Shanghai, Dalian, Tianjin and Seoul, depend on the Yellow Sea as a source of marine resources for human nutrition, economic development, reacreation and tourism.

The Strategic Action Programme formulated under this project will contribute to the conservation of natural ecosystems and to social and economic development in order to satisfy present and future demands minimizing water conflicts.

The second operational phase of the GEF Small Grants Program (GEF/SGP) was approved by the GEF Council in October 1998. A two-year replenishment for $31.619 million was granted and it was agreed that a subsequent annual “rolling” financial modality would be adopted to ensure continuity of program activities. The request for replenishment for SGP operations in year 3 was to be submitted at the end of year 1. Within the adopted programmatic approach a number of benchmarks and deliverables were to be met each year.

The project contributes to the nationwide Forests and adjacent lands Management Program (FALMP). The project development objective is to promote socially, technically and economically viable management of forest and adjacent lands resources by communities, within a strengthened institutional framework in order to: (i) improve land management; (ii) increase carbon sequestration; (iii) prevent loss of biodiversity; and (iv) promote activities that ensure alternative sources of income for communities.

The project will identify the priority global diversity sites and catalyze the implementation of conservation action by designing management activities in the following globally significant ecoregions: a) Choco/Darien Tropical forest, b) Eastern Andes Cordillera Real Montane Forest, c) Peruvian Yungas, d) Bolivian Yungas and e) Chaco Savannahs. The project will enable decision- and policymakers to strategically target scarce human and financial resources to areas that have the highest biodiversity values.

The project aims to conserve and sustainably use globally significant biodiversity and to fight against land degradation in three priority areas in the arid and semi-arid zone ecosystems of Algeria.

The overall objective of the project is to conserve acquisition and terrestial biodiversity of globally significance in lake Baringo.

The project will address serious threats from logging, agriculture, and human-induced disturbances within the endemic mountain and forest ecosystems in DPRK.