The Global Environment Facility (GEF)—a multilateral fund established in 1992 under the aegis of the United Nations and the World Bank—has announced investments totaling $261 million in support of projects that will address a broad range of conservation, pollution, and climate challenges.

GEF participants include 184 countries in partnership with international institutions, civil society groups, and private sector businesses, working to coordinate environmental funding in the form of grants and blended financing on a global scale. The latest funding—part of 2022’s GEF-8, a four-year, $5.3 billion commitment from 29 donor countries—will mobilize an additional $3 billion in co-financing from other sources.

Through its Least Developed Countries Fund, $40 million will be directed to climate adaptation projects in the Solomon Islands and Uganda, as well as a cross-border program focused on Mali and Chad. Through GEF’s Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, $26 million will support local community- and Indigenous Peoples-centered projects in Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the Sangha Trinational—a forested region connecting the Central African Republic, Cameroon, and Congo-Brazzaville. The remaining $195 million, allocated from the principal GEF Trust Fund, will be distributed across projects in support of six international conventions that address biological diversity, marine biodiversity across national borders, mercury in the environment, organic pollutants, desertification, and climate change.

“The very real strains on nature and natural systems—showing up as fires, droughts, floods, contamination, species loss, and illness—have raised the stakes for our work,” said GEF chief executive Carlos Manuel Rodríguez. “[The next round of funding, which starts in 2026] is going to be vital to the achievement of international commitments on biodiversity, climate, and pollution, and the funding allocated this week is keeping us moving in an innovative, impactful direction.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Michele Alfieri)