64th Global Environment Facility:
At the 64th Global Environment Facility (GEF) council meeting in Brazil, the governing body approved the disbursement of $1.4 billion to accelerate efforts to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises.
Other decisions:
- Of the total 4 billion, $653 million has been allocated specifically for biodiversity, aiming to support countries in updating their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans and meeting the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by 2030.
- Latin America and the Caribbean region receive the most funding, followed by Africa.
- The United Nations Development Programme, UN Environment Programme, and Food and Agriculture Organization are the top recipients among the 18 implementing agencies for GEF.
- A new trust fund called the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund will be established to support the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal biodiversity framework.
Global Environment Facility (GEF):
- It was established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit of UNFCC to help tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental problems.
- It is a family of funds dedicated to confronting biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and strains on land and ocean health.
- It provides financial assistance for five major international environmental conventions:
- The Minamata Convention on Mercury.
- The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
- The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD)
- The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
- The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
- It has 184 member countries, including India.
- The governing council is the main governing body of GEF which comprises 32 members appointed by constituencies of GEF member countries (14 from developed countries, 16 from developing countries, and two from economies in transition).
- Its secretariat is based in Washington, D.C.
