1. Perspectives on GEF-3 from Our Partners:
   1. UNDP (Frank Pinto)
   2. UNEP (Olivier Deleuze)
   3. World Bank (Steve Gorman)
   4. Pacific SIDS (Robert Aisi)
2. New CEO appointment
3. Curtain-Raiser on Assembly
4. Report on Events: IYDD
5. Prepping Countries for GEF-4: report on Sub-Regionals
6. Project Round up:
   1. Sustainable Energy Program in
       Europe and Russia
   2. Coral Reef Initiative
   3. Namibia
   4. NZAID
7. SGP and UNDP: An Update
8. Evaluation Office
9. STAP

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From Beijing to Cape Town—UNEP in the GEF, October 2002 to August 2006

Olivier Deleuze
Executive Coordinator, UNEP-GEF

In response to the expanding thematic mandate and evolving strategic priorities of the GEF and to growing demands from recipient countries and major partners for UNEP to help them prepare and implement projects, UNEP‘s operational role in the GEF grew considerably during GEF-3. The GEF’s project portfolio supported by UNEP more than doubled in size, both in terms of the number of projects and their funding. At the end of June 2006, some 580 projects were implemented (including national enabling activities) in 153 countries and financed to just over $1 billion, including $533 million in GEF grant funding. At the same time, the growing work program has remained strongly focused on areas of intervention related to UNEP’s mandate and comparative advantage identified by the Action Plan on UNEP-GEF Complementarity adopted by UNEP’s Governing Council, and by the GEF Council in 1999.

As examples, following the adoption of land degradation and persistent organic pollutants as new focal areas at the Beijing Assembly, UNEP is supporting 60 countries through GEF enabling activities to develop national plans for implementation of the Stockholm Convention and is supporting several demonstration projects to phase out use of DDT and reduce reliance on agricultural pesticides. Addressing land degradation, UNEP has given initial priority to Africa, promoting sustainable land management (SLM) in 17 African countries through projects approved in GEF-3. In addition, UNEP successfully implemented a global project to train national focal points on GEF’s approach to SLM and is supporting a global assessment of land degradation in drylands approved in 2005. New projects are under active preparation for Asia, Central Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, contributing to a comprehensive and balanced GEF portfolio addressing land degradation.

A foundation in the growth of its GEF operations has been the importance given by UNEP to development of partnerships with specialized agencies, including UN bodies— FAO, UNIDO, WHO and UNESCO—and other international bodies, such as the Organization of American States and Centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. The purpose of these partnerships is to provide a technical and administrative package that draws on complementary strengths of the agencies to help national partners attain national development objectives and global environmental benefits. For this purpose, UNEP is also a partner in many project initiatives co-implemented with its fellow Implementing Agencies: UNDP and the World Bank.

In response to the growing responsibility entrusted to it by the Council and recipient countries, UNEP has taken major steps to strengthen its project quality assurance and project cycle processing. This includes enhanced processes for the preparation and review of projects, for project monitoring, and for project evaluation—the latter now under the full and independent responsibility of UNEP’s evaluation office. Further progress was made in the implementation of a UNEP project “Risk Management System” as a systematic process of identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risk before they become problems and of designing and implementing mitigation measures in project implementation processes.

Under the leadership of UNEP’s former executive Director, Klaus Topfer, and its former Director of GEF Coordination, Ahmed Djoghlaf, UNEP’s role in the GEF was strengthened during GEF-3, responding to the directives of the UNEP Governing Council and GEF Council.

UNEP looks forward in GEF-4 to continuing its service to the GEF and all GEF participant countries under the stewardship of its new Executive Director, Achim Steiner, and the guidance of the GEF Council and new Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of the GEF, Monique Barbut.