by GEF Communications
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) held its 56th Council meeting at the World Bank’s headquarters from June 11 to 13. The Council met against the backdrop of a series of authoritative warnings about the plight of the global commons; the shared resources that ensure a habitable planet upon which we can all thrive such as clean air and water, biodiversity, healthy land and oceans, and a stable climate.
During the meeting, GEF Live hosted a series of interviews with Council members and other participants. The live-streamed interviews allowed our global audience to hear ideas, insights, and solutions to some of our world’s most pressing environmental problems.
You can watch them anytime here on GEF YouTube channel.
“Biodiversity and climate change are not just environmental issues.”
In our conversation with Sir Robert Watson, former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and a previous chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) we discussed IPBES’s stark message about the devastating rate of the planet’s biodiversity loss and why this must be slowed down significantly and reversed.
“The three UN conventions on climate change, biodiversity, and desertification are three pieces of the same puzzle.”
Like Sir Robert Watson’s GEF Live interview on aligning sectors and actors to address biodiversity and climate change, the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Ibrahim Thiaw also encourages a multisectoral, multi-agency approach to addressing land degradation. Thiaw sees the three UN environmental conventions (UNCCD, UNFCCC, CBD) as pieces of the same puzzle: Land is the biggest carbon sink, after oceans. Restoring land mitigates climate change and improves biodiversity. Thiaw underscores that to be successful, the conventions must work together.
“Our challenges are big, intractable and interconnected. Our solution space has to be creative and innovative.”
Rosina Bierbaum, Chair of the GEF Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP), describes the role of the scientist-staffed STAP within the GEF partnership as bringing the latest science into GEF programmatic decisions as well as making sure implementing agencies understand how the science is applied.
“The only way our work in the Amazon basin is possible is through our excellent relationships with the governments responsible for managing this land.”
Adriana Moreira is the Manager of the Amazon Sustainable landscapes (ASL) Program at the World Bank. ASL has proven to be a successful strategy against deforestation that puts local government coordination and collaboration at the heart of its approach. All of their work focuses on the people living in and dependent on the Amazon for their income, health, and well-being.
“Local civil society are the people who drive transformational change.”
Like the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program, GEF’s Small Grants Programme (SGP) also works closely with local populations. In a GEF Live interview on June 11, Yoko Watanabe, the global manager for SGP, discusses the program’s role in testing innovative tools and approaches, incorporating the voices of community groups that have historically been excluded from large-scale environmental projects, and working more closely with the community-led organizations who often implement the projects.
“The most significant thing we’ve accomplished is a new legally binding international agreement on plastics. It’s going to have a huge impact.”
We also interviewed Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary for the UN Convention for Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm (BRS). BRS recently held joint meeting of the conferences of parties (COP) that was successful in passing an agreement that ensures countries are legally bound to make changes to the plastic industry and to more tightly regulate additional cancer-causing chemicals frequently used in ubiquitous products like nonstick frying pans and industrial firefighting foam.
“The GEF’s approach has been successful in setting the policy and regulatory conditions for transformative change.”
We received heartening input from the Director of GEF’s Independent Evaluation Office, Juha Uitto. The Independent Evaluation Office is charged with the challenging job of evaluating GEF projects and programs, as well as highlighting effective learnings for future project development.
“Multi-agency projects are enriching because they allow each project to benefit from the institutional knowledge of each implementing agency.”
Our GEF Live conversation with Rossana Silva Repetto, Executive Secretary for the Minamata Convention on Mercury begins with the recognition that the GEF Council only moments before signed the memorandum of understanding with the convention. The MOU solidifies GEF’s role as a financial mechanism for this global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury.
“With the GEF at the helm we can turn this tide for the better.”
We had the privilege of speaking with Jozef Buys, our Council member from Belgium, who is retiring this year after decades of dedicated work. We take this unique opportunity to hear from Buys what he’s most proud of and how he anticipates the GEF to positively impact the world moving forward.
