The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) has approved $2.7 million for project preparation grants and set aside $91.2 million for 18 new projects in 17 countries, including nine Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The resources are expected to leverage $319.3 million in co-financing.
The grants will fund the development of projects on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) in Bolivia, Botswana, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Honduras, India, Iraq, Lao PDR, Madagascar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tanzania.
The new projects to be developed cover a broad range of initiatives to support the KMGBF targets. In Colombia, a project will be dedicated to the conservation, sustainable use, and restoration of mangroves on the Pacific coast of Colombia with a focus on empowering Afro-Colombian Communities that manage 90% of these mangroves through collective land tenure.
In India, the CONSERVE project aims to strengthen the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan implementation through integrated spatial planning, community co-management approaches, and innovative financing instruments. The project in Botswana is to accelerate progress on KMGBF targets through biodiversity mainstreaming in the financial sector.
Among the projects to be developed in LDCs and SIDS, the GBFF is to support the long-term sustainability of Locally Managed Marine Areas and targeted conservation actions in protected areas covering Key Biodiversity Areas in Madagascar. Another project is to contribute to empowering Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) of Papua New Guinea for the conservation and sustainable use of critical ecosystems spanning some 700,000 hectares.
With the new round, the GBFF has approved or set aside in 2024 a total of $202 million for 40 projects in 41 countries. To date, 36% of the total resources have been programed for LDCs and SIDS; 31% to support actions by IPLCs for the conservation, sustainable use, restoration, and management of biodiversity; and 20% have been programed through International Financial Institutions that are GEF agencies.
“The GBFF complements the substantial GEF Trust Fund investments in biodiversity and is a quick and effective way for supporting our efforts towards the Global Biodiversity Framework targets set for the next six years,” GEF CEO and Chairperson, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, said during the 3rd GBFF Council meeting. “These projects, in combination with other GEF projects, are crucial to accelerate the achievement of vital international biodiversity goals meant to halt and reverse nature loss.”
The new preparation grants include projects involving eight GEF implementing agencies: the Development Bank of South Africa, the Development Bank of Latin America-CAF, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, and World Wildlife Fund-US.
The GBFF is hosted by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and, so far, it has received contributions from 12 governments: Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Province of Québec, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
