In this article, we will discuss Global Environmental Facility (GEF). So, let’s get started.
Global Environmental Facility(GEF)
- It is an independently operating financial organization.
- GEF is a multilateral financial mechanism that provides grants to developing countries for projects that benefit the global environment and promote sustainable livelihoods in local communities.
- It was set up as a fund under World Bank in 1991.
- In 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, the GEF was restructured and moved out of the World Bank system to become a permanent, separate institution.
- Since 1994, however, the World Bank has served as the Trustee of the GEF Trust Fund and provided administrative services.
- It is based in Washington DC, United States.
- It addresses six designated focal areas:
- Biodiversity,
- Climate change,
- International waters,
- Ozone depletion,
- Land degradation and
- Persistent Organic Pollutants.
- The program supports an active portfolio of over 200 investments globally.
- GEF serves as a financial mechanism for:
- Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
- UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
- Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
- Minamata Convention on Mercury
- India is both donor and recipient of GEF.