GEF Familiarization Seminar

2012United Nations

Environment Programme (UNEP)

UNEP in the GEF• The only Implementing Agency of the GEF whose core

business is the environment;• Supports strategic and policy direction of GEF, and

performs legal obligations;• Helps operationalise the GEF Trust Fund by assisting

countries and proponents to access funds;• Work directly with countries ("direct" relations to

executing partners without need for country presence ); and packaging partnerships on GEF projects.

• Enhances scientific rigor and relevance, including by providing the secretariat of the STAP

•

UNEP’s Medium Term Strategy

and Programme of Work

• Climate Change – Mitigation & Adaptation

• Ecosystem Management• Disasters and Conflicts• Environmental governance• Harmful substances and hazardous

waste• Resource efficiency

UNEP’s GEF Portfolio

Since the 1992, UNEP has developed 576 projects with GEF support of almost $1 billion ($0.97 billion), with an additional two dollars for leveraged every GEF dollar ($1.9 billion grant co-finance)

UNEP’s Comparative Advantage in the GEF

1. Scientific assessments, monitoring, early warning;

2. Linking science to policy (capacity building, enabling activities, legal support) at nat’l, reg’l and global levels;

3. Technology transfer and support, and through partnerships, lifting barriers to upscaling;

4. Build capacities at country and reg’l level to test innovative solutions;

5. Regional, transboundary and global cooperation; 6. Awareness raising, advocacy, and knowledge

management.

Scientific Assessments, Monitoring,

Early Warning - examples•Carbon benefits of GEF projects,

Economic Assessment of Adaptation Options – CC

•Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and Strategic Action Plans (SAP) – IW

• Bioindicators and biomarkers – POPs•Millennium Ecosystem Assessment -

BD

Linking Science to Policy at Nat’l, Reg’l and Global Levels - examples

• Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (BD), followed by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Initiative (see www.teebweb.org)

• National Invasives Strategy and Action Plans (BD)• Biosafety Frameworks (BD)• National Communications (NCs), Technology

Needs Assessments (TNAs), National Action Plans for Adaptation (NAPAs) - CC

• National Capacity Self-Assessments (NCSAs)

Innovation, Technology Transferand Lifting Barriers - examples

•Technology Transfer Networks, e.g. phasing out Incandescent Lamps – global & countries - CC

•Greening the Tea Industry in East Africa – CC

•Greening the Cocoa Industry (10 countries) – BD

Regional and Global Cooperation

•Regional Assessment of Persistent Toxic Substances, Phasing out DDT and Introducing Alternatives – POPs

•South China Seas Project/UNEP Regional Seas – IW

•Flyways-based wetland & bird conservation (Siberia to South China) – BD

•Regional Invasive Alien Species Projects (Africa, Asia, Caribbean) - BD

Awareness Raising, Advocacy, and Knowledge Management

•Assessment of Impacts of and Adaptation to Climate Change (AIACC), Wind and Solar Energy - CC

•Communities of Conservation – Safeguarding the World’s Most Threatened Species/AZE Sites (BD) – social marketing

•IW: LEARN -International Waters Learning Exchange and Resources Network - IW

UNEP-GEF-5/emerging issuesBiodiversity : Access and Benefit Sharing; Invasive Alien

Species; marine protected areas; ecosystem restoration; migratory species….IW : ABNJ; marine litter & micro-plastics; coastal erosion & adaptation; carbon accounting methodologies for coastal management…Climate Change : Mitigation : Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs); Black Carbon; hydrofluorocarbons, adaptation: migration; modeling. Land degradation : Ecosystem restoration; Conserv. agriculturePOPs and Ozone : Integrated life-cycle approaches, chem & wasteSynergies : Green Economy; Convention obligations/reporting as One

UNEP in the GEF

http://www.unep.org/dgef/

kristin.mclaughlin@unep.org