1. A Letter from the CEO
2. GEF Council Meeting
3. Third GEF Assembly - A Retrospective
   a. UNDP view of Assembly
   b. Overview of the IYDD Forum
   c. Overview of the NGO Forum
   d. Evaluation Office
   e. Roundtables
   1. Market-Based Mechanisms
   2. Mitigation and Adaptation
   3. National Priorities and RAF
4. Climate Change COP12 in Nairobi
5. Fourth Replenishment
6. Update on RAF
7. New Focal Points/Council Members
8. Announcements
9. Obituary

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Roundtable 1. Market-Based Mechanisms to Finance Global Environmental Conventions

Co-Chaired by Thomas Kolly (Switzerland) and Achim Steiner (Executive Director, UNEP), the participants of this roundtable felt that the timing is opportune for energetic initiatives to support market mechanisms for financing global environmental conventions. Mohammed Valli Moosa (South Africa) discussed the opportunities and obstacles relating to implementing market-based mechanisms for financing environmental conventions. He pointed out that the private sector will protect the environment when it is profitable to do so.

The discussions in the roundtable focused on the importance of such mechanisms in the context of changing dynamics brought about by public-private partnerships, multilateral organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and civil society. Private sector representatives gave examples, where effective markets exist, of the increasing interest of investors and consumers in environmentally oriented products and services.

One of the important roles of the GEF and its partners, as identified by the roundtable, is to catalyze the establishment of new markets and engineering efficiency. However, an important entry point for GEF investment will be to remove barriers to markets, for example by helping to create enabling policies and legislation as well as by strengthening institutions that regulate markets.

As regards the challenges for the GEF and its partners, the roundtable emphasized the need for the further improvement of work processes, reduce bureaucracy and promote risk-taking in multilateral and public institutions circumscribing access to concessional finance. An additional challenge identified by the roundtable was to ensure that markets are open and transparent, and operate according to a rule-based system.

The discussion note for this roundtable is available on the GEF website at: http://thegef.org/3rd_assembly/46/HighlevelRoundtables.html

Photos of this roundtable are available at: http://www.iisd.ca/ymb/gefassembly3/