Biodiversity fund approves 18 new project preparation grants

The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) has approved a new round of project preparation grants and set aside more than $70 million for 18 new projects in 21 countries, including 13 Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States. The approvals keep the momentum for the less than 1-year-old fund housed at the Global Environment Facility to put nature on a path to recovery before 2030.

The resources will fund action on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (the Biodiversity Plan) in Angola, Belize, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Fiji, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Mozambique, Nauru, Palau, Peru, the Philippines, Samoa, Senegal, South Africa, Suriname, and Tonga.

GEF CEO and Chairperson Carlos Manuel Rodríguez celebrated the announcement during the week of the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB). “The approval of these grants shows the new fund commitment to allocating resources efficiently to impactful projects that will promote inclusiveness. We are part of the Plan,” said Rodríguez in a reference to this year’s IDB theme, which is a call to action for all stakeholders to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity.

The projects will advance many of the Biodiversity Plan targets – particularly 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 13, 18, 19, 22, and 23 – and have high outcome targets for enhancing biodiversity, including support to more than 8 million hectares of terrestrial and marine protected areas.

The second round of preparation grants includes projects from six GEF implementing agencies: the Asian Development Bank, Conservation International, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, and WWF-US.

In March, the GBFF approved a first round of preparation grants for four projects totaling nearly $40 million in Brazil, Gabon, and Mexico. Together, the two rounds set aside $110 million for 22 projects in 24 countries, with 35 percent of this funding expected to support action by Indigenous Peoples and local communities for biodiversity. GBFF resources are allocated in a country-driven manner to projects through consecutive selection rounds open to all eligible countries.

The GBFF was launched last August during the GEF Assembly in Canada to support the Biodiversity Plan. So far, it received contributions from six countries: Canada, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, Spain, and the United Kingdom.