Global Environment Facility (GEF): An Overview
Abstract
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is an independent and international financial mechanism (i.e., a grant and lending institution) that promotes cooperation and fosters actions to protect the global environment. Established in 1991, it unites 180 member governments and partners with international institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to assist developing countries with environmental projects related to six areas: biodiversity, climate change, international waters, the ozone layer, land degradation, and persistent organic pollutants. GEF receives funding from multiple donor countries-including the United States?and provides grants and concessional loans to cover the additional or "incremental" costs associated with transforming a project with national benefits into one with global environmental benefits. In this way, GEF funding is structured to "supplement" base project funding and provide for the environmental components in national development agendas. GEF partners with several international agencies, including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the United Nations Development Program, and the United Nations Environment Program, among others. GEF is the primary fund administrator for four Rio (Earth Summit) Conventions, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). GEF also establishes operational guidance for international waters and ozone activities, the latter consistent with the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and its amendments. Since its inception, GEF has allocated $8.8 billion-supplemented by more than $38.7 billion in co-financing-for more than 2,400 projects in more than 165 countries.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 17, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA520820
Entities
People
- Richard K. Lattanzio
Organizations
- Library of Congress