Global Environment Facility
| Global Environment Facility, GEF | |
|---|---|
| Seat of the organs | Washington, DC , United States of America |
| founding |
October 1991 |
| www.thegef.org | |
The Global Environment Facility (Engl. Global Environment Facility, GEF ) is an international mechanism to finance environmental projects in developing countries . It was founded in 1991 and today 179 countries are members of the GEF.
Between 1991 and 2009, by donor countries about 8.8 billion US dollars provided for more than 2,400 projects in over 165 countries. These funds raised a total of US $ 38.7 billion in co-financing, making the GEF a major source of international development cooperation projects .
The focus of the projects lies in the areas of climate protection , biodiversity , water protection , ozone layer , desertification and land degradation as well as chemical safety (particularly persistent organic pollutants ). The costs of projects that are also incurred due to environmental protection goals in the sense of the GEF are proportionally taken over.
structure
The main body of the GEF, the Council ( GEF Council ). It consists of 32 members of the assembly, including 16 developing countries, 14 industrialized countries and 2 countries from the former Soviet Union. It meets at least twice a year and its meetings are open to observers from non-governmental organizations . The Council is the main decision-making body of the GEF and is responsible for the budget and the use of funds.
In the Assembly ( GEF Assembly ) all 179 Member States are represented. It meets every three to four years. So far this has been the case three times, in 1998 in New Delhi , 2002 in Beijing and 2006 in Cape Town . It defines the broad orientation of the GEF and therefore has a less direct and immediate influence.
The meetings of the contracting states ( Conference of the Parties, COP ) on the conventions, which the GEF serves as a financing mechanism, are also important for the work of the facility. The COPs can provide guidelines to the Council that it should follow in its work on the Conventions.
The GEF Secretariat is based in Washington, DC and employs approximately 40 people.
Implementing and executing organizations
The GEF does not have a mandate to implement projects independently. This task has been carried out by three implementing organizations ( IAs ) since 1991 , and since 1999 by seven executing agencies ( ExAs ). These implement the projects together with public and private partners, while the GEF provides the funding.
The three implementing organizations are the World Bank , the Development Program and the United Nations Environment Program . You are responsible for the conception, planning and implementation of GEF-funded projects and work together with regional partners and governments.
In 1999, seven implementing organizations were added, including four regional development banks . These are:
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
- Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)
- United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
- Asian Development Bank (ADB)
- African Development Bank (AfDB)
- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
- International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
The expansion came under pressure from the seven organizations, which have direct access to the GEF's funds and no longer want to be dependent on cooperation with one of the three implementing organizations.
financing
The GEF made approximately $ 8.8 billion available for projects between 1991 and 2010. The funds have meanwhile been pledged in four replenishments by donor countries. The replenishments are preceded by intensive negotiations until the donor countries can agree on an amount.
In the pilot phase from 1991 to 1994, the GEF was able to fall back on 1.3 billion US dollars. The first replenishment (GEF-1) for the period 1994 to 1997 raised 2 billion US dollars, exactly as much as for the GEF-2 which lasted from 1998 to 2002. For the third replenishment for 2002 to 2006 (GEF-3), the donor countries provided 2.92 billion US dollars, and GEF-4 lasts from 2006 to 2010 and has a volume of 3.13 billion US dollars.
An agreement on the fifth replenishment (GEF-5) was expected in the first few months of 2010.
Working method
The GEF has no mandate for the independent, direct implementation of projects. Instead, it functions in three ways as a catalyst for green development. First, the GEF promotes the mainstreaming of environmental protection issues in target countries, second, with its investment commitments, the GEF attracts large additional sums of money through private and public co-financing, and third, it supports innovation.
Supported Conventions
The GEF acts as the current or potential funding mechanism for several international environmental agreements . These include the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), both of which rely on the GEF as the financial mechanism to implement their goals. The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) and the Desert Convention (UNCCD) could also use it, but have not yet done so. The UNCCD, for example, has its own financing mechanism, the Global Mechanism , administered by the International Fund for Agricultural Development . To this end, the GEF offers administrative support for the Montreal Protocol for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and its Multilateral Fund .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ GEF website: What is the GEF? ( Memento of the original from November 9th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ GEF website: Council ( Memento of the original from November 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ GEF website: Assembly ( Memento of the original from November 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Broughton, Emma (2009): The Global Environment Facility: Managing the Transition . IFRI Health and Environment Reports No. 3, p. 23 (PDF; 714 kB) ( Memento of the original dated December 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ GEF Website: GEF-4 Replenishment ( Memento of the original from November 9th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ GEF Website: GEF-5 Replenishment ( Memento of the original from November 9th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Broughton, Emma (2009): The Global Environment Facility: Managing the Transition . IFRI Health and Environment Reports No. 3, p. 15 (PDF; 714 kB) ( Memento of the original dated December 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
