Global Environment Facility

• The 64^th GEF council meeting was recently held in Brasilia, Brazil.
• The GEF Council approved the disbursement of $1.4 billion to accelerate efforts to tackle the climate, biodiversity, and pollution crises.
  • Of this, $653 million has been set aside for biodiversity and this would be used to help countries update their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, biodiversity programmes and meet the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
  • The Framework was adopted at Convention on Biological Diversity COP15 in 2022.

ABOUT GEF

• GEF is a multi stakeholder partnership to tackle various environmental issues established during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit of UNFCCC.
• GEF funding is provided by participating donor countries and is mobilized through a replenishment process every four years.
• It serves as “financial mechanism” to five conventions-
  • Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
  • United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
  • Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
  • UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
  • Minamata Convention on Mercury.
• The GEF Assembly is composed of all 185 member countries, or participants including India.
• The GEF Council is the main governing body, with 32 members appointed by constituencies of GEF member countries.
• Secretariat- Washington, D.C.