GEF Familiarization Seminar 2012

1. GEF Familiarization Seminar2012 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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)

5. UNEP’s Comparative Advantage in the GEF • Scientific assessments, monitoring, early warning; • Linking science to policy (capacity building, enabling activities, legal support) at nat’l, reg’l and global levels; • Technology transfer and support, and through partnerships, lifting barriers to upscaling; • Build capacities at country and reg’l level to test innovative solutions; • Regional, transboundary and global cooperation; • Awareness raising, advocacy, and knowledge management.

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. UNEP-GEF-5/emerging issues Biodiversity : 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. agriculture POPs and Ozone : Integrated life-cycle approaches, chem & waste Synergies :Green Economy; Convention obligations/reporting as One

12. UNEP in the GEF http://www.unep.org/dgef/ kristin.mclaughlin@unep.org