Emad Mekay
WASHINGTON, Aug 29 2006 (IPS) – The Global Environment Facility (GEF), the world s largest environmental funding body, received a shot in the arm Tuesday after 32 countries agreed to contribute a whopping 3.13 billion dollars for environmental projects over the next four years amid rising concerns about the impact human activities are having on the Earth.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF), the world s largest environmental funding body, received a shot in the arm Tuesday after 32 countries agreed to contribute a whopping 3.13 billion dollars for environmental projects over the next four years amid rising concerns about the impact human activities are having on the Earth.
The agreement was endorsed by the GEF Council in Cape Town, South Africa, where the GEF is holding its third assembly on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Washington-based World Bank announced the funding in a press release.
The amount is the largest in GEF s history, since it was established 15 years ago out of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.
The World Bank says the funds will be used to finance critical environmental programmes in developing countries, including small projects by non-governmental organisations and community-based groups.
Since 1991, GEF has provided 6.2 billion dollars in grants and generated over 20 billion dollars in co-financing from other sources to support over 1,800 projects worldwide. The projects typically cover areas like biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer and persistent organic pollutants
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In 2002, 32 donor countries pledged three billion dollars to fund operations between 2002 and 2006.
The new funding has rekindled hopes that the global environment may be finally getting some consistent attention from governments around the world.
At a time when global ecological challenges need strong multilateral action, this new funding for the GEF will go a long way to provide cohesive and sustainable programmes, said Philippe Le Houerou, World Bank vice president for concessional finance and global partnerships.
The 32 donors to the new fund comprise a mix of rich and developing nations. These include Australia, Canada, China, Finland, India, Ireland, Mexico, Pakistan, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Britain and the United States.
GEF is run by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Bank.
This strong show of support from the international donor community is remarkable, and signals firm commitment to protecting the global environment, said Monique Barbut, GEF s chairperson.
We cannot be complacent, and time is not on our side. The global environment is facing unprecedented threats, and these funds have to be translated rapidly into projects, programmes and policies that make a difference in developing countries, she said.
Multilateral organisations like the United Nations and the World Bank and a loud chorus of civil society groups have been waving red flags over the state of the global environment.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, an initiative of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that was completed in 2005, said last year that human activities were putting such strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted.
The United Nations has also warned that environmental degradation could be standing in the way of poor nations achieving the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, which in part seek to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015.
The World Bank has assembled some startling figures. In the 1990s, material losses due to natural disasters ran to 652 billion dollars, 15 times higher than in the 1950s.
In the past decade, three billion people in developing countries were affected by climate-related disasters 20 times the rate of people in developed countries.
On Tuesday, the World Bank said in a new report that during the past century, the global climate has warmed by about 0.7 degrees Celsius because of human activities, with accompanying changes in rainfall patterns, extreme weather events and sea levels. The report said that another 1.4 degrees to 5.8 degrees Celsius temperature rise is projected in the next hundred years.
The consequences of such changes include effects that could hamper economic development, such as decreased water availability and water quality in many arid regions; an increased risk of floods and droughts in many regions; and increased incidence of waterborne diseases such as malaria, dengue and cholera.
Funding for adaptation to climate change is absolutely critical for developing countries, said GEF s Monique Barbut. I m delighted that this assembly has provided the opportunity to bring financing for adaptation forward in the global environmental agenda, and towards the next climate change Conference of the Parties in Nairobi in November.
Leading environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Environmental Defence, were not immediately available for comment.
