Highlights and images for 19 June 2024

“Carlos Manuel, the GEF family and the global community are counting on you”. The Council reconvened following a closed session with this announcement by Laura Aguirre, Chair of the Selection and Review Committee and Mexico’s Council Member, communicating the Council’s decision to reappoint Carlos Manuel Rodríguez for a second term as the GEF CEO and Chairperson. 

The Council spent the bulk of the third day in the Council meetings of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) and the Least Developed Countries Fund/ Special Climate Change Fund (LDCF/SCCF), approving:

• the first GBFF Work Program, amounting to USD 37.82 million; and
• largest to date LDCF Work Program, in the amount of USD 203.02 million.

The GBFF work program comprises three projects:

• Conserving Mexican biodiversity through communities and their protected areas;
• Biodiversity Conservation in Indigenous Lands, in Brazil; and
• Caatinga Protected Areas Program, in Brazil.

During the discussion, most Council Members and constituency groups took the floor, recognizing the historic nature of the adoption of this first work program. Council Members highlighted the agreement that the GBFF portfolio should target 39% of funding for LDCs and SIDS and expressed hope that future work programs would move towards this allocation. Speakers also noted there was agreement that international financial institutions (IFIs) and multilateral development banks (MDBs) would receive 25% of project funding, with the goal of helping these implementing agencies to scale up their biodiversity funding. Several speakers encouraged IFIs and MDBs to submit more requests in the next funding round.

Benjamin Bélair, Quebec’s Delegate in Washington DC, underscored the long-standing engagement of Quebec in international cooperation, through international climate cooperation projects, and support, among others, to the CBD.

While thanking Canada, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, Spain, and the United Kingdom for their support to the GBFF, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez stressed that more resources are urgently needed.

Following the adoption, David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary, CBD, congratulated the Council and commended it on the speed in which it responded to the request of CBD COP 15 to establish the fund.

In opening the meeting of the LDCF/SCCF Council, Rodríguez noted it can be hard to understand the impact of the LDCF/SCCF work around the world. He invited Council Members to watch a video from a visit to an LDCF/SCCF project site in Bhutan, on improving planning in two urban areas.

The LDCF work program includes two programs and national projects in Angola, Cambodia, Chad, Comoros, Gambia, Guinea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Tanzania. The two program proposals consist of:

•  a global program focused on adaptation innovation, including Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi and Somalia;
• and a multi-trust fund program for the Great Green Wall Initiative involving Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Mauritania.

All projects considered in the work program had embedded gender equality considerations at the initial design stage. The projects and programs focus on: agriculture, fisheries and food security; nature-based solutions; water resources management; climate information services and early warning systems; disaster risk management; coastal zone management; climate-resilient transport; and urban resilience.

The LDCF/SCCF Council also considered and approved the FY23 Annual Monitoring Review of the LDCF and SCCF with many Council Members expressing how pleased they were with the good performance of both funds, especially the gender specific results and the large participation of African countries.