Shortly after the Seventh Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly welcomed the ratification of the Council Decisions establishing the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development, Canada, announced that Canada will invest CAD 200 million in the GBFF and provide CAD 22.8 million for the GEF-8 Replenishment to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
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Emphasizing Canada’s firm conviction that fighting the climate crisis requires concerted action, reliable funding, and effective global collaboration, Hussen said the GEF has the opportunity to build stronger partnerships, support locally-driven and inclusive initiatives, and promote ideas that are evidence-based and proven effective.
The UK followed up with a GBP 10 million pledge. GEF Assembly members, in welcoming the ratification and the pledges, urged others to contribute what they can as soon as possible.
In the afternoon, delegates gathered in two plenary sessions. In opening “Solutions for a Healthy Planet: Integrated Responses to Global Environmental Degradation,” Rosina Bierbaum, GEF Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP), said “we are now finally realizing what the First Nations have known for thousands of years: we must all row together.” Panelists commented on management practices toward more sustained outcomes, possible tradeoffs from integration, and new tools or technologies that can fulfill the vision of systemic solutions.
Parallel to the first plenary, six roundtables were held as listed below.
• Can Policy Coherence Across Sectors Narrow the Nature and Climate Funding Gap?
• Bridging the Science and Policy Nexus for Heathy Planet, Healthy People
• Pathways to a Net-Zero, Nature-Positive World
• Catalyzing a Zero-Waste, Circular Economic System
• Building Cities for People and Planet
• Conserving and Restoring Nature
Delegates then reconvened for the final plenary of the day on “Solutions for a Healthy Planet: Partnerships for Financing.” During this session, Valerie Hickey, World Bank, “disruption speaker,” described how to accelerate progress towards the green economy through policy reforms, including by repurposing subsidies. In the following panel discussion, experts discussed strategies to unlock financing, including through successful re-purposing of subsidies and harmful incentives and structuring of green bonds, highlighting innovations the GEF should consider.
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All ENB photos are free to use with attribution. For the 7th GEF Assembly, please use: Photo by IISD/ENB | Angeles Estrada.
Plenary
Adianez Taboada Zamora, Cuba
Alimate Kone, Côte d'Ivoire
Jonah Stanley, Nigeria
Halatoa Fua, Cook Islands
Barbara Creecy, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, South Africa
Sandra Patricia Vilardy Quiroga, Colombia
Yutaka Matsuzawa, Vice-Chair, Seventh GEF Assembly
Vitor Bahia Diniz, Brazil
Aziz Abdukhakimov, Minister of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change, Uzbekistan
Prakash Mahat, Vice-Chair, Seventh GEF Assembly
Press Conference: Launch of the GBFF
Solutions for a Healthy Planet: Integrated Responses to Global Environmental Degradation
Indigenous Peoples Press Conference
Roundtables
Solutions for a Healthy Planet: Partnerships for Financing
Chizuru Aoki, GEF Secretariat
Lori Kerr, CEO, FinDev Canada
Achim Steiner, Administrator, UN Development Programme (UNDP)
Valerie Hickey, Global Director for Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy, World Bank
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Deputy Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
Gerd Müller, Director General, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
Cristián Samper, Managing Director and Leader of Nature Solutions, Bezos Earth Fund
Around the Venue
Persian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana) in Kopetdag mountains of Turkmenistan. (c) MoEP Turkmenistan
