Global Environment Facility (GEF)

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to help tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental problems. Since then, the GEF has provided close to $20.5 billion in grants and mobilized an additional $112 billion in co-financing for more than 4,800 projects in 170 countries.

The GEF works with partners to improve ocean governance with and across nations through transboundary partnerships as well as helping countries develop regional institutional frameworks. 

The GEF’s marine projects have addressed the breadth of threats and issues facing ocean governance, including fisheries and pollution. The GEF also supports effective sustainable management of large marine ecosystems and with GEF’s support, at least 124 countries are now working together on shared large marine ecosystems.  The GEF initiated the Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP) that created the first baseline assessment of all the planet’s transboundary water resources.  The GEF has also funded marine protected areas across the world. To date, the GEF has created or effectively managed over 3,300 protected areas covering 860 million hectares; protected 46 river and lake basins, 8 ground water basins, and 23 of the planet’s 64 large marine ecosystems; reduced 2.7 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions; and brought 103 million hectares under sustainable land management, benefiting more than 50 million smallholders.

Regional Seas and GEF

GEF has played an integral role in funding many projects within the Regional Seas programmes. Examples of initiatives, projects and programmes include:

1. The Cartagena Convention
   • Project “Catalysing the Implementation of the SAP for the Sustainable Management of shared Living Marine Resources in the CLME+ region” (CLME+) with UNDP/GEF
   • Global Environment Facility-funded Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (IWEco Project). The Secretariat to the Cartagena Convention, UN Environment’s Caribbean Regional Coordinating Unit (CAR/RCU) and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) are the Project’s co-Executing Agencies. 
   • GEF (CReW+) Project: An integrated approach to water and wastewater management in the Wider Caribbean Region using innovative solutions and sustainable financing mechanisms
   • Implementation of the Strategic Action Program of the Gulf of Mexico Large Marine Ecosystem
2. East Asia seas  
   • Project, ‘Implementing the Strategic Action Programme for the South China Sea’, addresses the habitat, land-based pollution and regional coordination components, started in 2017
   • The US$3 million-project, ‘Establishment and Operation of a Regional System of Fisheries Refugia in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand’, covers the fisheries component and the implementation started in 2016.
3. Eastern Africa
   • Implementation of the Strategic Action Programme for the protection of the Western Indian Ocean from land-based sources and activities (WIOSAP)
   • The Western Indian Ocean Large Marine Ecosystems Strategic Action Programme Policy Harmonisation and Institutional Reforms (SAPPHIRE)
4. The Mediterranean region
   • Implementation of Ecosystem Approach in the Adriatic Sea through Marine Spatial Planning – GEF Adriatic Project (GEF ID 9545).
   • Fisheries and Ecosystem Based Management for the Blue Economy of the Mediterranean - FishEBM MED Project (GEF ID 10560).
   • Reducing Pollution from Harmful Chemicals and Wastes in Mediterranean Hot Spots and Measuring Progress to Impacts
   • Mediterranean Coastal Zones: Water Security, Climate Resilience and Habitat Protection.
   • Mediterranean Coastal Zones: Managing the Water-Energy-Food and Ecosystems Nexus.
   • Enhancing regional climate change adaptation in the Mediterranean Marine and Coastal Areas
   • The MedPartnership 2009-2015 project. Global Environment Facility (GEF),European Commission 
5. North West Pacific region
   • Implementation of the Yellow Sea LME Strategic Action Programme for Adaptive Ecosystem-Based Management
6. PERSGA has executed several GEF supported regional project in collaboration with GEF agencies. The main GEF projects executed by PERSGA include the Strategic Action Program (SAP) for RSGA project, conducted during 2000-2004 in collaboration with UNEP, UNDP and World Bank
7. The GEF and other organizations have continued to contribute to further development and effective implementation of the Tehran Convention and its Protocols and programmes
8. CPPS is currently partnering with the Global Environmental Facility /UN Development Programme/International Maritime Organization-IMO on the GloFouling Partnerships a global initiative bringing together keypartners to respond to a global environmental problem, namely invasive aquatic species introduced via biofouling.

For more, please visit their website: https://www.thegef.org/

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