Global Environment Facility - GEF

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was created in 1991 to address financing needs in response to mounting concerns over global environmental problems. The GEF was set up to provide new and additional grants and concessional funding to cover the “incremental” or additional costs associated with transforming a project with national benefits into one with global environmental benefits. The GEF’s work focuses on six main areas, including biodiversity, climate change (mitigation and adaptation), chemicals, international waters, land degradation, sustainable forest management.

The GEF also serves as a financial mechanism for the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The GEF is funded by donor countries and GEF support is provided to government agencies, civil society organizations, private sector companies, and research institutions to implement projects and programs in recipient countries.