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June 2007
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Monique Barbut
Dear Colleague: Summer is upon us. Here in Washington, we are gearing up for the onslaught of the summer heat. Of course, at the GEF rising temperatures weigh often on our minds.
This spring I visited Beijing, China, where I rode on one of the three zero-emission, hydrogen-powered fuel-cell buses now plying the streets of Beijing and saw first-hand a state-of-the-art refueling station for the buses, part of a GEF-funded project at the fore of the global response to climate change.
II. The next meeting of the GEF Council is scheduled to be held June 12-15, 2007 in Washington, DC. An NGO consultation will take place prior to the Council meeting, on June 11, 2007. For more information on the upcoming Council meeting, including the Council papers, please visit the GEF Website: www.theGEF.org
III.
The Okavango Delta in Botswana boasts some of the most magnificent game viewing in Africa. These attractions draw a lucrative tourism industry, mostly in exclusive hunting and photo safaris, as Botswana has adopted a ‘high-cost, low-volume’ tourism approach. Tourism from the Ngamiland district, one of the most popular safari destinations, brings important revenue to the country: over $200 million a year. b. Good Tourism Practices in Belize and Ecuador A UNEP/GEF project is reaching out to the tourism sectors in Belize and Ecuador. In partnership with the Rainforest Alliance, Conservation International, and local nongovernmental organizations, the project is creating a supply of sustainable tourism services in these countries. At the heart of the project is training a critical mass of tour operators and accommodations owners in the adoption of good practices—such as conserving globally important biodiversity. An important lesson has emerged from the Crocodile Rehabilitation, Observance, and Conservation (CROC) project: community consultations and public awareness campaigns can be more effective tools than penalties and patrols to enforce environmental legislation, say Jan van der Ploeg and Merlijn van Weerd, team leaders. The CROC project aims at changing opinions about crocodiles and bringing the species back from the brink of extinction.
d. Bringing Sustainability to the Marine Aquarium Trade A booming market exists for marine aquarium fish—estimated at $200-330 million annually. The largest markets for these products are in the United States and Western Europe, with Japan and Hong Kong rapidly increasing their demand. Overfishing and environmental degradation of the fisheries habitat, particularly coral reefs, pose a grave danger both to this trade and resources it depends on. The International Finance Corporation-GEF supported Marine Aquarium Market Transformation Project (MAMTI) is working to put the trade of aquarium ornamentals on a sustainable path in Indonesia and the Philippines—the world’s largest exporters of marine tropicals.
IV. News from the GEF Evaluation Office The issue of capacity development is a major priority within the global conventions and the GEF. Nearly all GEF medium and full-sized projects include some objectives or activities related to capacity development. However, in most of these projects, capacity development is not the principle objective, but a means to a broader global environmental goal. This has been the principal pathway for addressing country capacity development needs and GEF strategic priorities.
VI. New Country Support Programme Knowledge Management Facility Launched The GEF Country Support Programme (CSP) is pleased to announce the launch of the new knowledge facility for GEF Focal Points website: http://www.gefcountrysupport.org.In designing this online knowledge facility, the CSP paid close attention to the needs and preferences identified by GEF Focal Points during the 2006 subregional consultations and in surveys conducted in Oct/Nov 2006. An international initiative to counter land degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa got the green light at a conference in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, held April 24-25, 2007. The Strategic Investment Program for Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa (SIP), which has been two years in the planning, could eventually raise around $1 billion to rehabilitate damaged and degraded lands and prevent new land degradation.
The GEF-NGO Network is pleased to welcome five new Regional Focal Points (RFPs):
Community initiatives funded through the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) have recently been recognized with several prizes and awards for their innovative and effective approaches to delivering global environmental benefits, while at the same time generating sustainable livelihoods for local communities.
X. New Focal Points and Council Members
Meet Thomas Groh and Lars Christiansen
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