Financial Mechanism and Resources

Operations of the financial mechanism

Article 21, paragraph 1: "There shall be a mechanism for the provision of financial resources to developing country Parties for purposes of this Convention on a grant or concessional basis the essential elements of which are described in this Article. The mechanism shall function under the authority and guidance of, and be accountable to, the Conference of the Parties for purposes of this Convention. The operations of the mechanism shall be carried out by such institutional structure as may be decided upon by the Conference of the Parties at its first meeting. For purposes of this Convention, the Conference of the Parties shall determine the policy, strategy, programme priorities and eligibility criteria relating to the access to and utilization of such resources. The contributions shall be such as to take into account the need for predictability, adequacy and timely flow of funds referred to in Article 20 in accordance with the amount of resources needed to be decided periodically by the Conference of the Parties and the importance of burden-sharing among the contributing Parties included in the list referred to in Article 20, paragraph 2. Voluntary contributions may also be made by the developed country Parties and by other countries and sources. The mechanism shall operate within a democratic and transparent system of governance."

The Memorandum of Understanding between the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and the Council of the Global Environment Facility, contained in decision III/8, provides legal basis for the relationship between the Convention and the Facility, including the role and responsibilities of each institution. The relationship with the Global Environment Facility has evolved as follows:

Reporting from the GEF Council
The GEF Council reports on its financed project activities to the ordinary meetings of the Conference of the Parties. Its latest report was submitted to the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties. The next preliminary version of the GEF report will be available to the second meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation, and a full report will be for the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

Pertinent projects financed by programme:
National planning
Climate change and biodiversity
Species issues
Terrestrial ecosystems and protected areas
Agro-ecosystems and agriculture
Coastal, marine, inland waters and fisheries
Forest ecosystems and forestry
Access and benefit sharing
Biosafety
Other projects
Pertinent global and regional projects:
Global and regional financing
Africa
Asia and the Pacific
Latin America and the Caribbean
Central and Eastern Europe


Determination of funding needs
In anticipation of the replenishment of the GEF Trust Fund, the Conference of the Parties makes an assessment of the amount of funds that are necessary to assist developing countries, in accordance with the guidance provided by the Conference of the Parties, in fulfilling their commitments under the Convention over the next GEF replenishment cycle. The second determination of funding needs was completed by the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, in time for the launch of the seventh replenishment negotiations for the GEF. The fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties will need to consider the terms of reference for assessing funding needs during the eighth replenishment period of the GEF, so that the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties will undertake the third determination of funding needs, for the eighth replenishment negotiations for the GEF Trust Fund.
The negotiation towards the seventh replenishment of the GEF Trust Fund was initiated by the 51st meeting of the GEF Council in October 2016, and planned to conclude in April 2008.

Inter-secretariat collaboration and reciprocal representation
The secretariats of the Convention and the Facility cooperate to enhance the effectiveness of the MOU, including attending as an observer the meetings of the governing bodies, providing technical consultation and jointly promoting implementation.