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The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established to
forge international co-operation and finance actions to address
critical threats to the global environment. Launched in 1991
as an experimental facility, GEF was restructured after the
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Currently GEF projects address
six global environmental issues:
- Biodiversity
- Climate Change
- International Waters
- Land Degradation
- The Ozone Layer
- Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
GEF Member Countries include developing and developed countries,
as well as those with economies in transition. Each country
has a GEF representative known as a Focal Point. The GEF Council
is the main governing body, it is comprised of 32 members
who represent GEF member countries. The GEF Assembly is comprised
of all the countries that are members of the GEF, and it meets
once every four years to review the policies and operations
of the GEF.
GEF projects are managed by the GEF Implementing Agencies:
- the United Nations Environment Programme
- the United Nations Development Programme
- the World Bank
GEF funds a variety of project types:
- Small Grants Programme (grants of up to $100,000)
- Medium-Sized Projects (MSPs, less than $1 million GEF
support, with expedited procedures)
- Full-size projects (more than $1 million GEF support,
must be approved by the GEF Council)
- Project preparation grants (through the Project Preparation
and Development Facility, PDF)
- Enabling Activities (help countries to prepare national
inventories, assessments, strategies and action plans in
connection with the Convention on Biological Diversity,
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention
to Combat Desertification and the Convention on POPs)
- Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Program (projects that
demonstrate a positive environmental impact and have basic
financial viability)
GEF funds are contributed by donor countries. In 2002, 32
donor countries pledged $3 billion to fund operations between
2002 and 2006.
NGOs play a variety of important roles both in the development
and in the execution of GEF projects, thus their participation
is crucial not only at the project level but also at the policy
levels of the GEF. Therefore NGOs have agreed to form the
so-called GEF NGO network. The network is represented in the
GEF decision making events (Council Meetings, General Assembly)
by the Regional Focal Points (RFPs).
The regional focal points should serve to coordinate GEF-related
NGO activities in the regions in cooperation with the Central
Contact Point. Specific responsibilities include:
(1) Provide regional notification of upcoming GEF-NGO Consultation
and GEF Council meeting and distribute relevant documents;
(2) Coordinate nomination and selection of regional delegates
for the GEF Consultation and Council meetings and forward
information to Central Contact Point;
(3) Liaise regularly with Central Contact Point on matters
of relevance to NGOs including information exchange, input
into GEF policy documents, document distribution, GEF-NGO
Consultation logistics and agenda development;
(4) Collect, coordinate, and provide a brief report on regional
concerns relevant to the upcoming GEF meeting to the Central
Contact Point for distribution to Consultation participants;
(5) Report back to the region and interested parties on GEF
Council meeting through the distribution of the NGO report
on the GEF Council meeting.
Currently CEEweb serves as the Regional Focal Point for
Central and Eastern Europe (contact person: Andras
Krolopp)
Global Environment
Facility
Small Grants
Programme
Medium-Sized
Projects
Enabling Activities
Non-governmental
organisations
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