BiodiversityGEF and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity As the financial mechanism of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) helps developing countries and countries with economies in transition to achieve the objectives of the CBD and generate global environmental benefits in the area of biodiversity. Biodiversity projects constitute the largest percentage of GEF’s portfolio, making up 36 percent of total GEF grants. Between 1991 and 2006, the GEF provided approximately $2.2 billion in grants, and leveraged about $5.17 billion in cofinancing in support of more than 750 biodiversity projects in 155 countries. The Biodiversity Strategy for GEF-4 The goal of GEF’s biodiversity program is the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, the maintenance of the ecosystem goods and services that biodiversity provides to society, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. To achieve this goal, the strategy encompasses four complementary and mutually reinforcing objectives: Catalyzing the sustainability of protected area systems; Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation and sustainable use into production landscapes/seascapes and sectors; Safeguarding biodiversity through: i) building country capacity to implement the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB), and ii) prevention, control, and management of invasive alien species; and Capacity building to support the implementation of the Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-sharing.
Underpinning these responses, GEF supports institutional capacity building and the development of the appropriate policy frameworks to ensure sustainable biodiversity conservation. The strategy is consistent with the integrated approaches to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use promoted by the ecosystem approach, the primary framework for action under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). |
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