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butterfly on plant

New contributions from Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Québec announced at COP16.

The support from Québec is the GBFF’s first pledge from a sub-national government.

The GBFF now has 12 contributors including Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, and Spain.

Story Climate Action

For much of his life, cattle farmer Asherly William Hogo was consumed with finding water for his herd. Hogo, who is in his early sixties, still has vivid childhood memories of rising in the middle of the night, gathering his animals and setting out across Tanzania’s parched central rangelands in search of water.  

Video
PlanetGOLD Phillipines

In the Philippines municipality of Paracale, over half of the population is involved in artisanal and small-scale gold mining, either as workers, financiers, processors, or gold panners. Many operations use the toxic chemical mercury to extract their gold and use outdated equipment--but this site is home to a brand new mercury-free processing system thanks to the planetGOLD Philippines project. This upgraded facility eliminates harmful emissions of mercury while also supporting livelihoods by enabling miners to recover more gold than before when they were using mercury.

Blogpost
Gustavo Fonseca

In memory of tropical scientist Gustavo Fonseca and his contributions to biodiversity conservation, the Global Environment Facility has established the Fonseca Leadership Program. Named in honor of the GEF’s long-serving Director of Programs who passed away in 2022, the program builds on partnerships with several existing institutional programs dedicated to producing and supporting the next generation of conservationists.

Categorized Under: Global

Story

A couple of years ago, in the turquoise waters off the coastal village of Mahébourg in Mauritius, a Japanese oil tanker ran aground.  

Categorized Under: International Waters Global

Story

In the small coastal town of Guapi, Colombia, Mary Luz Ante Orobio is meeting with a group she calls “the unstoppable women.”  

They are gathered around a wooden chest filled with loose cash, a ledger and a calculator. Orobio flips through the ledger, eyes poring over tidy notes outlining a series of financial investments. She jots down some numbers before distributing cash among the group. 

Categorized Under: Global

Video

The Kassanda District in Central Uganda is well known for artisanal mining. At the Kayonza-Kitumbi Mine Site, it is estimated that between 2,000-3,000 people have been engaged in small-scale gold mining here for decades, typically using toxic mercury to process the ore.

Categorized Under: Chemicals & Waste Africa

Story

Global agricultural production more than tripled between 1960 and 2015, an expansion that has helped to feed a hungry planet.

Categorized Under: Global

Story

Floating through the crystal-clear waters off the east coast of Thailand, fisher Sutham Hemmanee spots a large female crab amidst the morning’s haul, its underside swollen with the promise of offspring.  

“A female crab like this can produce millions of babies,” the 57-year-old says, pointing to the bulging yellow pouches attached to the crab’s stomach. “We put these egg-carrying females in the crab bank.”  

Press release

The Global Environment Facility has approved the first funding related to the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, an important milestone for ensuring the health and resilience of more than two-thirds of the world’s ocean ecosystems. 

Categorized Under: International Waters

Press release

Global Environment Facility member countries approved $736.4 million in funding, including new support for the Great Green Wall, a landmark initiative focused on increasing climate resilience and improving land health across Africa’s Sahel region.

The diverse package of financing includes the new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund’s first three approved projects, less than a year after the fund’s launch, and the most support ever provided by the Least Developed Countries Fund for climate change adaptation. 

Press release

The Global Environment Facility’s governing body will hold back-to-back Council meetings for the GEF Trust Fund, the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) and the Least Developed Countries Fund/Special Climate Change Fund (LDCF/SCCF) from June 17 to 20 in Washington, DC.

Story Climate Action

In June 2020, Tropical Storm Amanda descended on El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador. Gale-force winds and torrential rains triggered more than 150 landslides and 20 major floods, tearing apart roads, electrical lines and almost 30,000 homes.

Press release

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility launched a new $135 million Blue and Green Islands Integrated Program (BGI-IP) today during the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4). This initiative aims to emphasize the crucial role of nature and expand nature-based solutions to combat environmental degradation in three key sectors: urban development, food prod

Story Climate Action

Set amid the rapidly growing city of Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, is a small commercial garden run by the community group the Abilities Foundation. Neat rows of fruits and vegetables line the plot, which helps fund vocational training for students with special needs.  

Alongside the produce is a tank that harvests rainwater and a network of tubes that disperses it into the garden. That system is crucial.  

Press release

Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe have joined forces to reduce the burden of mercury and persistent organic pollutants

Mercury and persistent organic pollutants pose risks to human health and the environment

$48-million initiative will prevent the build-up and improve the management and disposal of hazardous waste

Categorized Under: Chemicals & Waste

Press release
Albania, Burkina Faso, India, Montenegro and Uganda have joined forces to halt mercury pollution from the healthcare sector Mercury harms human health and the environment $134-million initiative will support a holistic approach to improve the management of mercury waste and the adoption of alternatives

Geneva, 14 May 2024 – The Governments of Albania, Burkina Faso, India, Montenegro and Ugand

Categorized Under: Global

Press release
The initiative brings together lake and phosphorus management communities, marking a significant step toward establishing a global framework for sustainable phosphorus management. The $2 million initiative will increase clarity on global phosphorus emissions, drivers and impacts through science, data and evidence. Excess nutrient loading into lakes endangers human health, drinking water supplies, and drives biodiversity loss.

Categorized Under: International Waters

Press release

Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines unite to strengthen blue economy and coastal and ocean management through innovative financing mechanisms. 

Coastal and marine resources – coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds, tidal marshes, and beaches – are critical economic drivers in the Caribbean. 

The USD 6 million initiative will leverage existing regional sustainable finance architecture in the Caribbean to support and showcase the value of blue economy and blue businesses.  

Categorized Under: International Waters

Story

The forests of the Bamougoum Chiefdom in the western highlands of Cameroon have been sacred grounds for generations. 

Renowned for their natural beauty and rich biodiversity, these landscapes are also home to wildlife, including great apes, civets and pangolins.  

Categorized Under: Africa

Video

The coastal waters of Southeast Asia are home to one of the world’s most productive fisheries, which supports nearly 4 million people. But a growing human population and overfishing are threatening the region’s marine species, including the blue crab.  

Categorized Under: Global

Press release
Ecuador, India, Kenya, Laos, Philippines, Uruguay, and Vietnam have joined forces to reduce the environmental impact of the agricultural sector Highly hazardous pesticides and plastic waste from agriculture release toxic persistent organic pollutants into the environment, also harming human health $379 million initiative will realign financial incentives to prevent the use of harmful inputs in food production

Categorized Under: Global

Story

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Thailand's largest rice-farming province on January 26, highlighting his government’s support for multilateral efforts to shift towards climate-smart agriculture.

Rice is Thailand’s single most important crop. Rice cultivation covers almost half of the country’s  agricultural land, supporting exports of more than 8 million tonnes each year.

Story

The Global Environment Facility’s member countries have approved $203 million in high-impact climate adaptation investment for Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, and other countries needing to reinforce their food systems, water resources, and warning systems as a result of growing climate change risks.

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