The 61st meeting of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council and the 31st meeting of the Council of the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) adopted Work Programs worth USD 210.32 million.

Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, GEF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairperson, highlighted that the Work Program would contribute to efforts “to tackle environmental challenges in an integrated way,” as well as to a blue and green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The GEF Work Program includes 25 projects and one program. The 43 recipient countries include ten Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and 16 small island developing States (SIDS). The program prioritizes the chemicals and waste focal area, and will deal with agricultural chemicals and their management. The GEF’s Biodiversity, Climate Change, Chemicals and Waste, Land Degradation, and International Waters focal areas are also addressed in the Program. In total, the Work Program is worth USD 190.7 million, and represents 5% of the entire GEF-7 replenishment.

The Work Program includes the following program, projects and recipient countries:

• Financing Agrochemical Reduction and Management (FARM) in Ecuador, India, Kenya, Lao PDR, Philippines, Uruguay, Viet Nam;
• Implementation of the Fanga’uta Lagoon Stewardship Plan and Replication of Lessons Learned to Priority Areas in Vava’u in Tonga;
• Strengthening institutional capacities for securing biodiversity conservation commitments in India;
• Strengthening biodiversity governance systems for the sustainable management of living natural resources in Cabo Verde;
• Marshall Islands Building Energy Efficiency;
• Towards Land Degradation Neutrality for Improved Equity, Sustainability, and Resilience in Cabo Verde;
• Sustainable Management and Restoration of Degraded Landscapes for Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in India;
• Integrated Management and Environmentally Sound Disposal of POPs Pesticides and Mercury in Healthcare and Agricultural Sectors in Sri Lanka;
• Improved Management of E-waste and Healthcare Waste to Reduce Emissions of Unintentionally Produced POPs (UPOPs) in Egypt;
• Enhancing the sustainable management of Senegalo-Mauritanian Aquifer System to ensure access to water for populations facing climate change (SMAS) in Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, and Senegal;
• Enhancing Environmental Security and Transboundary Cooperation in the Golok/Kolok River Basin, in Malaysia and Thailand;
• Strategies, technologies and social solutions to manage bycatch in tropical Large Marine Ecosystem Fisheries in Barbados, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago;
• Towards Sustainable and Conversion-Free Aquaculture in Indonesian Seas Large Marine Ecosystem in Indonesia and Timor Leste;
• Using Marine Spatial Planning in the Gulf of Guinea for the implementation of Payment for Ecosystem Services and Coastal Nature-based Solutions in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Togo;
• Implementing the Strategic Action Programme of the Drin Basin to Strengthen Transboundary Cooperation and Enable Integrated Natural Resources Management in Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, and North Macedonia;
• Conservation and Sustainable Management of Land Resources and High Value Ecosystems in Lake Sevan Basin for Multiple Benefits in Armenia;
• Securing Climate-Resilient Sustainable Land Management and Progress Towards Land Degradation Neutrality in the Federated States of Micronesia;
• Sustainable food systems and integrated land/seascape management in the Marshall Islands;
• Supporting …….

  Source: http://sdg.iisd.org/news/gef-council-work-program-features-chemicals-and-waste-and-international-water-projects/