Panorama
 
 
 
 

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY ASSEMBLY (GEF): MONIQUE BARBUT


Environmental Panorama
International
August of 2006

Speech
Statement by Ms. Monique Barbut

Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson
Global Environment Facility

Third GEF Assembly

Cape Town, South Africa
August 29, 2006

Chief Executive Officer of the GEF:
Monique Barbut

Madam Deputy President, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of the GEF, its Member Countries, Council, Heads of Implementing and Executing Agencies, and partners, welcome to the Third GEF Assembly

Madam Deputy President, we are honored to have your presence.

I would like to thank the Government South Africa for graciously agreeing to host this Assembly. This is the first time the Assembly is being held in Africa.

We are truly grateful to the Minister of Finance, His Excellency Trevor Manuel, and the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, His Excellency Marthinus van Schalkwyk as well as His Excellency Ebrahim Rasool, Premier of the Western Cape Province, and so many others, including the people of South Africa who have made us feel welcome in this great “Mother City”

Excellencies, Members of the GEF Council, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Assembly is convening at a time when the world’s environment is facing severe threats, negatively impacting the lives and livelihoods of millions of poor people.

On many environmental fronts – species loss, climate change, loss of soil fertility, deforestation and the potential for conflict over shared water resources – we are fast reaching a tipping point.

Last year’s Millennium Ecosystem Assessment warned us in stark terms that human activities are “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.”

All parts of the world, rich and poor, are witnessing the vagaries of nature – heat and cold, drought and floods, bountiful harvests and withering crops, species loss on land, air, and water.

Taking note, the United Nations has named 2006 as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.

This campaign is focused on bringing about change in dry areas that constitute some of the world’s most fragile ecosystems and are home to nearly 2 billion people.

Madam Deputy President, as I see it, the overarching objective of this Assembly must be to generate solutions to problems of environmental degradation and poverty.

The GEF was created 15 years ago, and in institutional terms, it has now matured into a nearly universal entity with 176 member countries. And we hope that number will increase further.

Our portfolio has grown – we now have over 1800 projects delivering global environmental benefits in more than 150 countries. Our investment of $6.2 billion is leveraging $20 billion in co-financing.

These projects touch the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, and the ecosystems on which they depend.

Our fledgling Small Grants Program has grown in stature and reach – providing over 7,000 grants in 95 countries. These grants to small NGOs and community-based organizations help link local actions to national development priorities, and ultimately to global environmental protection.

And I would be remiss if I did not thank our 32 donor countries who yesterday agreed to replenish the GEF for another four years with a record sum of $3.13 billion.

Despite these successes, we cannot be complacent.

The magnitude of environmental problems are such that they can make or break any nation’s quest for achieving sustainable development.

Projects in the six focal areas lie at the heart of GEF’s environment-and-sustainable development agenda, and we are achieving notable successes.

In the biodiversity focal area, GEF and its partners are working at the frontier, fostering market-based approaches to conservation. Our strategic approach focuses on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity within protected areas, and mainstreaming biodiversity in production landscapes, seascapes and sectors.

On climate change, GEF’s overall mission focuses on mitigation, working to develop and transform energy markets so that countries can move toward a less carbon-intensive growth path. GEF support for adaptation focuses on projects that build adaptive capacity and increase ecosystem resilience – this is an area of high payoff, because climatic fluctuations are expected to hit poor countries the hardest.

Water security is a critical concept on which depends the well-being of current and future generations. GEF has advanced the international waters’ agenda. Because people are at the front and center of our development strategy, we are fostering cooperation and ecosystem-based approaches to management while working with member countries to address transboundary concerns.

Land degradation is a serious, global problem. We are disseminating best practices for controlling and preventing deforestation and desertification, while fostering policies that remove barriers to sustainable land management. Yesterday, we hosted a major forum on sustainable land management to support the International Year of Deserts and Desertification campaign.

On the ozone layer, in partnership with the Montreal Protocol, dramatic success has been achieved with 90 percent reduction of ozone-depleting substances in Russia and transition economies. But the challenge of the chemicals agenda remains. As we know, persistent organic pollutants pose insidious, long-term threats to humans, animals and plants. Looking ahead, a key effort is to demonstrate feasible, innovative technologies and practices for reducing these deadly chemicals.

Partnerships are at the core of our modus operandi. To facilitate private sector engagement, we are deploying a variety of financial instruments -- grants, contingent grants, subsidized loans, and guarantees – to deal with incremental risk. Again, this is an area where we can and must do more, including piloting wider ranging and more sophisticated economic instruments to better value natural resources. A more substantive and expansive engagement of the private sector on global environmental issues is needed.

We are strengthening our partnerships with civil society, anchored in a knowledge-sharing approach that distills 15 years of experience in environmental projects.

The GEF’s work heeds the warning by the United Nations that environmental degradation is hampering ongoing efforts by developing nations to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Four years ago, we met in that great cradle of civilization, China. And now we meet in Africa, not far from the Rift Valley, where humans began their long march to modernity.

The GEF is committed to protecting the global environment.

I am confident that with the support of our stakeholders, the GEF can fulfill its mission of helping developing countries achieve sustainable development.

Thank you for your time and attention.

 
 

Source: South African Environmental (http://www.environment.gov.za)
Press consultantship
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