Notification 2010-131

Dear Madam/Sir, The thirty-eighth meeting of the Council of the Global Environment Facility was held from 29 June - 1 July 2010 in Washington, D.C. The GEF Council agreed to a new standard of 18 months between PIF approval and CEO endorsement for full-sized projects as well as to the two types of GEF programmatic approaches, and approved the proposal for eligible national entities in recipient countries to receive resources from the GEF Trust Fund directly to undertake on a voluntary basis, GEF National Portfolio Formulation Exercises to produce portfolio formulation documents, and prepare Convention Reports which include national communications/reports/national implementation plans that are undertaken as obligations under the Conventions. The GEF Council also approved Operational Procedures for the System for a Transparent Allocation of Resources (STAR). I have the honor to transmit, for your information, the Joint Summary of the Chairs of this meeting. Please accept, Sir/Madam, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points, CPB National Focal Points, and Resource Mobilization Focal Points