Financial Mechanism and Resources

T11 (Regulating Services): How to Use GEF Funding

1. This page aims to provide information regarding the restoration, maintaining and enhancement of nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, such as regulation of air, water, and climate, soil health, pollination and reduction of disease risk, as well as protection from natural hazards and disasters, for recipient Parties and relevant stakeholders, including how to access funding of the Global Environment Facility in this regard. It is a work in progress and will be updated as necessary.

Guidance from the Conference of the Parties

2. Environmental Quality

• Support monitoring programmes that help evaluate the impacts of local and long-range air pollution on biodiversity and ecosystem services at all levels and take appropriate measures to prevent and mitigate the impacts; (VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 2, objective 2(b); VII/27, annex, action 1.1.8)
• Set up comprehensive national/local water quality monitoring programmes; (XII/23, annex, para. 8.2a)
• Implement comprehensive watershed and coastal water quality management plans that reduce all major types of pollution, especially those causing eutrophication, sublethal effects on corals, lower seawater pH or other negative impacts; (XII/23, annex, para. 8.2b)
• Ensure that water allocation policies are based, inter alia, on the need to achieve the sustainable availability of water of adequate quantity and quality to support ecosystem functioning and the sustainable delivery of water‑related or dependent ecosystem services; (X/28, para. 17)
• Encourage the adoption of integrated watershed, catchment and river basin management strategies to maintain, restore or improve the quality and supply of inland water resources and the economic, social, hydrological, biological diversity and other functions and values of inland water ecosystems; (IV/4, annex I, para. 9(a))
• Take measures to sustain the ability of ecosystems to supply sufficient water of appropriate quality thus contributing to, inter alia, water supply for urban areas; (X/28, para. 15(a))
• Further efforts in sea areas, including enclosed and semi-enclosed seas, that are affected by multiple direct and indirect anthropogenic influences originating from the watershed area, and where the biodiversity issues require an integrated holistic approach aiming to improve the water quality and restore the health and functioning of the whole ecosystem; (X/29, para. 13(j) and 71)
• Promote research into, and development and implementation of, integrated pest management strategies, in particular, methods and practices alternative to the use of agro-chemicals, that maintain biodiversity, enhance agro-ecosystem resilience, maintain soil and water quality and do not affect human health; (III/11, para. 15(k))
• Encourage the use of low-cost (appropriate) technology, non-structural and innovative approaches to meet watershed management goals, such as using wetlands to improve water quality, using forests and wetlands to recharge groundwater and maintain the hydrological cycle, to protect water supplies and using natural floodplains to prevent flood damage, and to use indigenous species for aquaculture; (VII/4, annex, goal 2.2, activity 2.2.2; IV/4, annex I, para. 9(b); Convention on Wetlands (CBD/SBI/3/6/Add.3, 16 February 2021))
• Emphasize more effective conservation and efficiency in water use, together with non-engineering solutions, and apply environmentally appropriate technologies, such as low-cost sewage treatment and recycling of industrial water, to assist in the conservation and sustainable use of inland waters; (VII/4, annex, goal 2.2, activity 2.2.4)

3. Climate and Natural Hazards

• Develop specific participatory plans, including community response and mitigation plans, to address specific disasters such as flooding, storm surges, drought, bush fires and mainstream these into national planning processes, including appropriate traditional practices; (VIII/1, annex, priority action 8.1.3.2)
• Develop approaches to build resilience of ecosystem functions and services to climate-change risks and to natural hazards, and other anthropogenic pressures, as well as for adaptation to environmental stress, for consideration in strategies and national development/sectoral plans, and take measures to manage ecosystems so as to maintain their resilience extreme climate events and to help mitigate and adapt to climate change; (XII/5, para. 6; VII/15, para. 12)
• Support proactive planning and adaptive measures to reduce the vulnerability to both natural and human-induced hazards adversely impacting on mountain biological diversity, cultural landscapes and local communities; (VII/27, annex, action 2.1.8)
• Develop mechanisms and implement measures to reduce human-induced slope instability, adverse effects of natural geological hazards, and to maintain and/or enhance soil stability and ecosystem integrity by way of a diverse and natural vegetation cover that will also promote soil biodiversity function; (VII/27, annex, action 1.1.2)
• Promote integrated watershed management practices at all levels for maintaining ecosystem integrity, soil stability on slopes, upstream-downstream inter-connections and protection against natural hazards (VII/27, annex, action 1.3.9)
• Design adaptive integrated marine and coastal area management programmes that respond to environmental change, as well as recurrent or emerging physical or biological hazards, as long-term mitigation tools complementary to early warning systems for coastal/marine hazards; (VIII/22, para. 3(b))
• Mainstream the management of the risks of natural disasters and extreme events to island biodiversity and communities into the national planning process; (VIII/1, annex, priority action 8.1.3)
• Support the implementation of ecosystem restoration for the mitigation and management of the impact of extreme weather events and for ecosystem‑based adaptation to climate change, taking note of extreme weather events, and strengthen efforts to conserve and restore ecosystems that provide protection against tidal and storm surges and damage (e.g. mangroves, coral reefs, and sand dunes); (XI/16, para. 4(b); VIII/1, annex, priority action 8.1.1.2)
• Encourage additional research and monitoring on the impacts of increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events on biodiversity and associated resources; (IX/16B, annex II, para. 24)
• Identify and implement effective early-warning systems (forecasting) and strategies that address natural hazards and their impacts on island biodiversity and its recovery capacity, such as tsunamis, hurricanes, storm surges, floods, and tropical storms and longer-term trends such as climate change, sea level rise, El Niňo and La Niňa phenomena; (VIII/1, annex, priority action 8.1.2.1)
• Empower or maintain the capacity of indigenous and local communities to address, respond and adapt effectively to natural hazards and their impacts on island biodiversity, taking into account traditional practices; (VIII/1, annex, priority action 8.1.1.1)
• Establish and strengthen formal national and local organizations responsible for disaster preparedness, response and mitigation including on islands; (VIII/1, annex, priority action 8.1.1-8.1.8)
• Integrate education and awareness related to biodiversity’s role in natural hazard reduction into ongoing natural disaster programmes including on islands; (VIII/1, annex, priority action 8.1.3.1))

Financial support of the Global Environment Facility

Blue Green Islands

Ecosystem Restoration

Food Systems

Amazon, Congo, and Critical Forest Biomes

Net Zero Nature Positive Accelerator

BDFA: Objective One

LDFA: Objectives One and Two

Potential implementation/project partners

Related references