• Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) has been launched at the Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) Seventh Assembly in Vancouver.

• Representatives of 185 countries agreed to launch the new fund for biodiversity that will attract funding from governments, philanthropy, and the private sector.

• Two countries announced initial contributions to start its capitalisation. This included 200 million Canadian dollars from Canada and 10 million pounds from the United Kingdom.

• The GBFF’s ratification came eight months after the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity agreed on a historic set of global biodiversity goals known as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and decided to set up a new GEF-managed fund to support its implementation.

• It has been designed to mobilise and accelerate investment in the conservation and sustainability of wild species and ecosystems, whose health is under threat from wildfires, flooding, extreme weather, and human activity including urban sprawl.

• The contributions announced in Vancouver will support action towards halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030 and putting nature on a recovery path by 2050.

• As much as 20 per cent of its resources will support Indigenous-led initiatives to protect and conserve biodiversity. It will also prioritize support for Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries, which will receive more than a third of the fund’s resources.

Global Environment Facility

• The Global Environment Facility (GEF), established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, is a catalyst for action on the environment — and much more. Through its strategic investments, the GEF works with partners to tackle the planet’s biggest environmental issues. 

• The GEF is a partnership of 18 agencies — including United Nations agencies, multilateral development banks, national entities and international NGOs — working with 185 countries to address the world’s most challenging environmental issues.

• The GEF is a family of funds supporting developing countries’ action on inter-related environmental challenges including biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution. 

• Its grants, blended financing, and policy support helps developing countries address their biggest environmental priorities and adhere to international environmental conventions. 

• Over the past three decades, the GEF has provided more than $23 billion and mobilised $129 billion in co-financing for more than 5,000 national and regional projects.

• In June, the GEF Council approved the arrangements to establish the fund during a meeting in Brazil.

• GEF Assembly, a once-every-four-year gathering of the full partnership, took place from August 22-26.

Biodiversity for agrifood systems

• The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework places agrifood systems at the forefront of an enormous challenge that will require important financial resources, coordination, and commitment to implement win-win solutions for people and the planet.

• The significance of biodiversity in agrifood systems cannot be understated.  

• Biodiversity is the variety of life at genetic, species and ecosystem levels and it is an indispensable component of food security, sustainable development, and agricultural stability.

• It encompasses domesticated plants and animals that are part of crop, livestock, forest or aquaculture systems, harvested forest and aquatic species, the wild relatives of domesticated species, and other wild species harvested for food and other products.

• More than half of the targets in the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework directly pertain to agrifood sectors.

• The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is entrusted with overseeing four key indicators: ecosystem restoration, fish stocks, sustainable agriculture areas, and responsible forest management.

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