7th GEF Assembly

The Seventh Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to commence in Vancouver, Canada from August 22, 2023.
Focus on ratifying the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) to ensure financial support for species and ecosystem conservation.

What is Global Environment Facility?

The GEF is a multilateral financial organization that provides grants and concessional loans to developing countries for projects that protect the global environment.

The GEF was set up in 1991. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The GEF is funded by contributions from 183 member countries.
The GEF’s work is guided by six focal areas:
- climate change,
- biodiversity,
- international waters,
- land degradation,
- chemicals and waste, and
- ozone depletion.
The GEF has funded over 4,000 projects in 170 countries, with a total value of over $22 billion.
The GEF’s work has helped to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect biodiversity, improve water quality, and reduce pollution.

What is Global Biodiversity Framework Fund?

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

The framework has 23 targets that the world needs to achieve by 2030.
The targets are ambitious, considering that biodiversity is in a poor state.
- In 2020, the world failed to meet the last set of targets, the Aichi Targets.
  - Countries would need to ensure success this time around.
Delegates were able to build consensus around the deal’s most ambitious target of protecting 30% of the world’s land and seas by the decade’s end, a goal known as 30-by-30.
The deal also directs countries to allocate $200 billion per year for biodiversity initiatives from both the public and private sectors.
The Global Environment Facility has been requested to establish a Special Trust Fund to support the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (“GBF Fund”).

Allocation of Funds: Targeted Environmental Areas

Biodiversity to receive 47% of funds, climate change 16%, land degradation 12%.
International waters and chemical waste to secure 11% and 6% respectively.
Funds designated for global projects addressing environmental concerns.
Proposal for direct financing access, with a goal of securing 20% of funding.
Currently, less than 1% of climate and biodiversity funding reaches IPLCs, despite managing significant global land.

Environmental Challenges

Convened after a five-year hiatus due to COVID-19 disruptions; typically occurs every four years.
The gathering’s significance in light of Sustainable Development Goal target achievement by 2030 and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s end-date.
Human activities, notably fossil fuel combustion, are mostly to blame, as they increase heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in the Earth’s atmosphere, elevating the average surface temperature. This is called global warming.
Climate Change encompasses both human intervention and natural change in climate over longer periods. Global warming focuses primarily on rising temperatures as a result of human activities.
Natural causes of climate change are- the intensity of the sun, volcanic eruptions, and changes in naturally existing greenhouse gas concentrations
Anthropogenic causes are- burning of fossil fuels, livestock production, industrial development etc.
At the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference, almost all countries resolved to shift away from fossil fuels to cleaner and efficient alternatives.

Crucial Momentum to Achieving Global Goals

Upcoming Vancouver Assembly holds substantial importance for achieving global objectives.
The only anticipated Assembly before the 2030 deadline for Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Biodiversity Framework.
Momentum generated during the event critical for goal realization.

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