https://www.thegef.org/newsroom/news/gbff-council-approves-ambitious-wor...
The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) was conceived as a tool for innovation and rapid response – to drive resources towards implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The approval by the GBFF Council of a work program that includes three innovative and inclusive projects demonstrates that the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is delivering.
The $28.2 million work program features projects in Colombia, Indonesia, and Madagascar that advance biodiversity conservation on land and sea by integrating ecotourism and sustainable finance, while ensuring the participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
“The work done under the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund to support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework clearly demonstrates that the GEF partnership and its family of funds is a “state of the art” instrument for achieving the 2050 vision of the Convention on Biological Diversity,” said Claude Gascon, GEF Director of Strategy and Operations.
“The speed with which the fund was set up … was impressive, but I think also in terms of its delivery, and we've heard about the targets and how they have been exceeded, is likewise impressive,” said Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
In Colombia, the Biomanglar project will drive transformative actions for mangrove protection across the Pacific regions of Chocó, Valle del Cauca, Cauca, and Nariño. The initiative strengthens Afro-Colombian collective territories—historic custodians of mangrove ecosystems—and demonstrates the power of inclusive, community-centered environmental governance.
The project will restore degraded mangrove ecosystems and enhance ecological connectivity while improving the management of close to 620,000 hectares of terrestrial and marine protected areas. It will strengthen governance structures of Afro-Colombian territories and promote sustainable value chains such as harvesting of piangua mollusks and other artisanal fisheries, and nature-based tourism. The project will support 3,860 people—particularly women and youth—through training, leadership opportunities, and supporting livelihoods and biodiversity-friendly value chains.
In Madagascar, the project Sustainable Financing and Inclusive Management to Perpetuate Madagascar’s Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) builds on the achievements of a very successful GEF-6 project for marine protected areas, and supports Madagascar’s continued leadership in community-based marine conservation. Among other objectives, it will strengthen two national conservation trust funds, providing a sustainable means of continuing to finance the LMMAs once GBFF financing winds down.
The project will directly benefit at least 5,450 people, mostly from Indigenous Peoples and local communities, through learning and knowledge-sharing events, capacity building and inclusive governance, as well as adoption/support for sustainable and improved livelihoods.
In Indonesia, the project Enhancing co-benefits of conservation area management through an inclusive wildlife-based ecotourism strategy positions ecotourism as a unifying lever for conservation, community empowerment, and sustainable finance. It embeds biodiversity objectives into land- and sea-use planning for five national parks. The project strengthens stewardship by Indigenous Peoples and local communities and equitable benefit-sharing, while gender-responsive monitoring and free prior and informed consent processes reinforce inclusive governance, with the aim of benefiting 6,000 people in and around the parks. Over 50 percent of the additional proceeds generated through an enhanced ecotourism sector are expected to be reinvested in the management of these parks.
Including this work program, in under 24 months, the GBFF has now invested over $288.7 million for 62 projects benefiting 71 countries. The fund has now achieved all three of its portfolio targets:
- The share of projects for Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States is now 43 percent, well above the target of 39 percent.
- The share programmed through international financial institutions will be 28 percent, above the target of 25 percent.
- 29 percent of GBFF financing will now support actions by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, exceeding the aspirational target of 20 percent.
These portfolio targets were created to ensure that the Fund provides innovative financing and supports actions by Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
Delivering across the ecosystems and communities of the world, the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund is on the way to support the achievement of the goals and targets to protect biodiversity and support the 2050 vision of the Convention on Biological Diversity – life in harmony with nature.
About the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF)
The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) was established by the Global Environment Facility at the request of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP15 to support implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The GBFF can receive contributions from public, private, and philanthropic sources. It has streamlined procedures to provide efficient and impactful support for developing countries towards biodiversity goals, with a target of having 20 percent of its funding to support biodiversity action led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. To date, it has supported projects in 71 countries.
