“In accordance with Article 21 of the Convention the Conference of the Parties will determine the policy, strategy, programme priorities and eligibility criteria for access to and utilization of financial resources available through the financial mechanism, including monitoring and evaluation on a regular basis of such utilization. GEF, in operating the financial mechanism under the Convention, will finance activities that are in full conformity with the guidance provided to it by the Conference of the Parties…” … MOU, paragraph 2.1
The financial mechanism operates under the guidance of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention. The first set of guidance to the financial mechanism was developed by the Conference of the Parties at its first meeting in 1994, and additional guidance was provided by subsequent meetings of the Conference of the Parties. In October 2010, the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties adopted the consolidated list of guidance to the financial mechanism, including programme priorities, and agreed to retire the previous decisions and elements of decisions, as related to the financial mechanism and limited only to those provisions related to the financial mechanism (see decision X/24).
At its ninth meeting, the Conference of the Parties adopted the four-year outcome-oriented framework of programme priorities as related to utilization of Global Environment Facility resources for biodiversity for the period from 2010 to 2014 (see decision IX/31 B). It was used as input to the development of the biodiversity focal area strategy for the fifth replenishment period of the Global Environment Facility.
A new paradigm of providing guidance has emerged. In October 2010, the Conference of the Parties decided that guidance to the financial mechanism, for a specific replenishment period, consists of a consolidated list of programme priorities that defines what to be financed, and an outcome oriented framework, taking into account the Strategic Plan of the Convention, including its associated indicators and targets.
For the biennium 2011-2012, the following activities are expected:
- Parties and relevant stakeholders, including indigenous and local communities, to submit information and views on the further development of programme priorities, taking into account the 2011-2020 Strategic Plan of the Convention, including its associated indicators and targets, by 30 November 2011;
- The Executive Secretary to compile the information from Parties and relevant stakeholders, for consideration by the fourth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Review of Implementation;
- The Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Review of Implementation to review the implementation at its fourth meeting of the four-year outcome-oriented framework of programme priorities as related to utilization of Global Environment Facility resources for biodiversity for the period from 2010 to 2014, taking into account the Strategic Plan of the Convention, including its associated indicators and targets;
- At its eleventh meeting, the Conference of the Parties will adopt a four-year outcome-oriented framework of programme priorities, taking into account the Strategic Plan of the Convention including its associated indicators and targets, as well as the outcome of the review, for consideration during the sixth replenishment of the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund, as related to utilization of Global Environment Facility resources for biodiversity for the period July 2014 to June 2018.
Further readings
Opportunities for Streamlining the Guidance Provided to the Global Environment Facility Taking into Account the Framework for Targets and Indicators of the 2010 Target (UNEP/CBD/WG-RI/2/5; 16 May 2007) (
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Review of the Guidance to the Financial Mechanism (UNEP/CBD/WG-RI/3/9, 6 March 2010) (
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Decision IX/31, B: Four-year outcome-oriented framework of programme priorities related to utilization of GEF resources for biodiversity (2008)
Decision X/24, annex: Consolidated guidance to the financial mechanism of the Convention (October 2010)
Decision X/25: Additional guidance to the financial mechanism (October 2010)
