GEF in Africa – World

introduction

Africa is endowed with a significant portion of the world’s renewable and non-renewable natural resources, including arable land, water, oil, natural gas, minerals, forests and wildlife. Africa has 60 percent of the world’s best solar resources and approximately 30 percent of the world’s mineral reserves are found in Africa. Additionally, the continent contains 40 percent of the world’s gold, up to 90 percent of the world’s chromium and platinum, and has the largest reserves of cobalt, diamonds, platinum, and uranium. Africa holds 65 percent of the world’s arable land area and 10 percent of its domestic renewable freshwater sources. Finally, Africa is home to multiple biodiversity hotspots, providing important ecosystems, biomes and wildlife habitats.

Despite its rich biodiversity and natural resources, Africa grapples with numerous environmental challenges that are exacerbated by climate change. These include land degradation, drought, deforestation, biodiversity loss, overexploitation of water resources, climate change, air and water pollution, coastal erosion, and air, water, and soil pollution.

The GEF is the largest multilateral fund dedicated to addressing these threats. Throughout its 30-year history, GEF has been actively involved on the African continent, supporting the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Stockholm Convention, and Recently, the Minamata Convention on Mercury. In particular, GEF’s recently launched Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) aims to foster investment in nature restoration and regeneration. and the United Nations Convention on the High Seas or the Convention on Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), which is a legally binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. Efforts are also underway to assist countries as they prepare for ratification.

Today, GEF is the world’s leading public financial fund dedicated to making smart, green choices that boost local economies and protect the planet. Recognizing the threat of climate change to the African continent, GEF is actively involved in climate action by supporting low-carbon and climate-resilient development in Africa. Mitigation efforts cover areas such as decarbonized energy access, energy efficiency, net-zero mobility, and nature-based solutions with high mitigation potential. Adaptation efforts are supported by the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), which is dedicated to supporting adaptation needs in the least developed countries (33 out of 54 African countries), and the Special Climate Change Fund, which is available to other developing countries. Fund (SCCF) through two trust funds. Adaptation projects span areas such as agriculture, water, climate information services and nature-based solutions. GEF works closely with other climate funds, such as the Green Climate Fund, through a long-term vision embodied in ongoing joint programs in Africa.

Africa’s freshwater resources are shared among multiple countries through groundwater aquifers, lakes, rivers, and wetlands. GEF provides support to countries involved in a variety of surface water bodies, groundwater bodies, and freshwater ecosystems, including the Okavango Delta, Lake Victoria (Africa’s largest lake), and Lake Tanganyika.

GEF leverages our experience and track record over the past 30 years in our focus areas and emphasizes an integrated approach to delivering transformative impact. GEF operates as a partnership and delivers its activities in Africa through collaboration with GEF institutions. His 12 GEF institutions operating in Africa offer African governments diverse experience and options when developing projects that benefit the global environment. These institutions include four multilateral banks, including the African Development Bank (AfDB), the West African Development Bank (BOAD), the World Bank, and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). Additionally, five United Nations agencies (FAO, UNEP, UNDP, UNIDO, IFAD) and three international non-governmental organizations (WWF-US, CI, IUCN) are contributing to his GEF project. Cooperation involves a variety of stakeholders at national and local levels, including government representatives, civil society organizations, community representatives, and indigenous peoples.

The sophistication of GEF’s work has not occurred in isolation, but rather as a result of years of experience in hundreds of programs and projects across Africa, which ensure that human health and well-being are linked to healthy ecosystems. provides concrete evidence of how deeply dependent we are on About the limits to which we can exploit systems before they collapse. That understanding has led to new ways of thinking about how to design and implement both broad-based programs and focused national efforts. This document reflects how his GEF’s involvement across the continent has evolved through various replenishment cycles.

First, protecting the continent’s rich and unique biodiversity, tackling deforestation and forest degradation, promoting sustainable land management practices to halt and reverse desertification, and benefitting climate change mitigation across multiple sectors. This paper outlines the progress and results of priority regional investments focused on the realization of environmental protection and the removal of dangerous and pests. Chemicals and waste that pose a threat to people and the environment. Second, it describes how countries in the African region have adopted an integrated approach through the GEF program, designed to tackle the key drivers of global environmental degradation and advance the transformation of key economic systems. . This includes programs on food systems and land use, deforestation-promoting products, and urbanization. The report concludes by outlining future directions for leveraging new opportunities related to multilateral environmental agreements, in the context of commitments made through regional and subregional institutions across the continent.