The 7th GEF Assembly convenes environmental leaders and launches Global Biodiversity Framework Fund

FAO promoted sustainable agrifood systems at the Seventh Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Assembly was hosted by the Government of Canada and convened environmental leaders from 185 countries from 22 to 26 August 2023 in Vancouver.

The Assembly launched the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBF Fund), which will direct financing to developing countries to enhance their ability to conserve nature and sustainably use natural resources. The GBF Fund will help countries implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP15 in December 2022, to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Canada pledged 200 million Canadian Dollars (CAD) and the United Kingdom 10 million British Pounds to initiate the GBF Fund.

FAO welcomed the launch of the GBF Fund and highlighted the role of sustainable agrifood systems in achieving biodiversity and climate goals throughout the GEF Assembly. The FAO delegation, headed by Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General, participated in three high-level roundtable discussions, hosted six side-events, and promoted a new publication on nutrition in GEF investments. FAO also had two exhibitions displaying products from the FAO-GEF projects, including the Coastal Fisheries Initiative and the Common Oceans program.

“The dream is to have safe and nutritious foods for everyone and a healthy planet with prosperity and equity. Sustainable agrifood systems are the solution, and we have to scale them up through an integrated approach,” said Maria Helena Semedo.  

Kaveh Zahedi, Director of the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, highlighted FAO’s support to countries in strengthening institutions and technical capacities to address challenges through the FAO Strategy on Climate Change, including enhancing transparency to raise Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ambitions.

“The GEF Assembly is an important platform for FAO to showcase its expertise and best practices on innovative solutions for climate resilient agriculture,” said Jocelyn Brown Hall, Director of the FAO Liaison Office for North America.

Among discussions with country delegations and key partners, Semedo and Brown Hall met with Canadian and US government officials. With Peter Macdougall, Assistant Deputy Minister at Global Affairs Canada, Semedo expressed FAO’s gratitude to Canada for hosting the GEF Assembly and for the government’s generous contribution to the new Global Biodiversity Framework fund.

In a bilateral with Jennifer Littlejohn, Acting Assistant Secretary of the US Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, they discussed priorities to advance the world's climate and biodiversity agenda.

On the margins of the GEF Assembly, Semedo and Brown Hall also met with senior leaders and researchers from Thompson Rivers University, where they discussed partnerships to build the research capacity of female knowledge makers and bridge the global data gap on Indigenous women in food systems and climate change.

FAO and the GEF

As a GEF implementing partner and specialized agency of the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has over 1 billion USD portfolio of projects in more than 120 countries addressing local priorities for sustainable agri-food systems through the eighth GEF replenishment cycle. The GEF also approved 26 new FAO-led projects worth of $174.7 million USD in GEF funding, with the aim of transforming agrifood systems into solutions to biodiversity loss, climate change, ecosystem degradation, and pollution on land, freshwater and seas.

More information:

The newly launched Global Biodiversity Framework Fund will support the sustainable use of natural resources

FAO at the Seventh GEF Assembly

FAO and the Green Climate Fund partnering for climate action

FAO's work on climate change

FAO’s Strategy on Climate Change 2022-2031