29th June, 2018 Da Nang, Vietnam (Enviro News): Tonga was represented at the Sixth GEF Assembly and Associated Meetings that took place at the Furama International Conference Center in Da Nang, Viet Nam, from June 23-29.
Led by the Chief Executive Officer for the Ministry of MEIDECC, Mr Paula Ma’u, the Tongan delegation was able to join 182 other member countries at the Assembly.
The GEF Assembly is the governing body of the GEF and is composed of all 183 member countries.
It meets every four years at the ministerial level to review general policies; review and evaluate the GEF’s operation based on reports submitted to Council; review the membership of the Facility; and consider, for approval by consensus, amendments to the Instrument for the Establishment of the Restructured Global Environment Facility on the basis of recommendations by the GEF Council (read more on the GEF Partnership).
In the same week other events that took place included the:
- 15 Constituency Meetings
- 54th GEF Council Meeting and the 24th LDCF/SCCF Council Meeting – NB: Access to Council meetings is restricted but the event is web streamed on the GEF website.
- GEF Scientific and Technical AdvisoryPanel Meeting
- Civil society organizations (CSOs) Forum– The forum provides a platform for CSOs and other stakeholders to dialogue on issues relating to global environment and the future of the GEF; to showcase and foster mutual learning of civil society innovations in safeguarding the global environment; to formulate specific recommendations related to enhancing CSO engagement in the GEF.
Chief Environmentalist with the Department Ms Mafile’o Masi and the Head of the Biodiversity Unit at the DoE Ms Ta’hirih Hokafonu were the other members of the Tonga delegation.
Today, the GEF is an international partnership of 183 countries, international institutions, civil society organizations and the private sector that addresses global environmental issues.
Since 1991, the GEF has provided over $17.9 billion in grants and mobilized an additional $93.2 billion in co-financing for more than 4500 projects in 170 countries.
Through its Small Grants Programme (SGP) the GEF has invested $450 million and leveraged similar levels of co financing supporting over 14,500 community based projects in over 125 countries.
Over the past 25 years, the GEF has supported a range of notable achievements:
- PROTECTED AREAS: Investment in over 3,300 Protected Areas, covering more than 860 million hectares (ha), an area larger than the size of Brazil.
- SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE AND SEASCAPE: Biodiversity protection and planning for more than 350 million ha of productive landscapes and seascapes.
- SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT: Support for over 380 forest-related projects, with $2.1 billion in grants that leveraged an additional $9.5 billion.
- SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT: 103 million ha are under sustainable land management (SLM). These have benefited more than 50 million smallholders.
- GHG EMISSION REDUCTION: Support for 940 climate change mitigation projects expected to contribute 8.4 billion tonnes of direct and indirect GHG emission reductions over time.
- INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: Sustainable management of 43 transboundary river basins in 84 countries.
- SAFE DISPOSAL OF HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS: Phaseout of 29,000 tons of ODP (ozone depleting potential) and sound disposal of more than 200,000 tons of POPs legacy in developing countries.
- ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE: Vulnerability reduction for more than 11 million people in 130 countries.
ENDS