The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has helped 22 countries unlock /US$68 million in financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to address biodiversity loss, groundwater management,  climate change, land degradation, and pollution.

The projects were approved by the GEF Secretariat and Councils for the GEF Trust Fund, the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), and the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) meeting earlier this week in Washington DC.

The projects are expected to leverage an additional US$273 million in co-financing to advance global goals for biodiversity, social inclusion, land and water management, and reducing the use of hazardous chemicals.

“The approval of this batch of projects comes at the end of a year of environmental summits that highlighted both the need for finance to unlock transformation of global agrifood systems to this critical agenda,” said Qu Dongyu, FAO Director-General.

“We look forward to supporting countries to meet their biodiversity, climate, land, water, and pollution goals through agrifood systems solutions under the overall guidance of the Four Betters.”

“These projects will help change the way we produce our food, fuel, and fiber to address global environmental crises. They will enhance coherence between agricultural and environmental sectors and support countries and communities to tackle environmental challenges, food insecurity, and poverty. With this new financing in place, it is now equally important to their success to effectively communicate their goals and impacts,” said Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, CEO and chairperson of the GEF.

Small Grants Programme

As part of the funding, the council approved a US$19 million allocation for FAO’s first activities as a new implementing agency for the Small Grants Programme. The project builds upon 30 years of impact by bringing FAO’s expertise in working with smallholder producers to support civil society and community-based organisations in co-designing and delivering locally led initiatives. The project will develop strategies, provide financial and technical assistance, and foster South-South Cooperation focusing on innovation, scalability, and social inclusion of women, Indigenous Peoples and youth.

The project will work with local organizations across 14 countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Cook Islands, Cuba, Guyana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Marshall Islands, Nicaragua, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Uganda and Venezuela. It aims to restore 20,000 hectares of land, improve practices across 350,000 hectares, and benefit 45,000 people.

Biodiversity

Five projects funded by the GBFF will help mainstream biodiversity in agrifood sectors, foster sustainable livelihoods, and empower Indigenous Peoples. These projects aim to improve the management of 500,000 hectares of protected areas, restore 13,000 hectares of landscapes, improve practices on 2.4 million hectares of land and sea, mitigate 1.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and benefit 100,000 people.

The US$1.7 million project in Laos will enhance biodiversity through ecosystem restoration and biodiversity-friendly One Health practices. The US$6.4 million project in Papua New Guinea will improve ecosystem connectivity and climate resilience with integrated landscape management. In the Solomon Islands, US$2.4 million will support community-led management of key biodiversity areas by Indigenous Peoples, including through spatial management and other effective area-based conservation mechanisms (OECM). In Cuba, the US$3 million project will address unsustainable fishing and agriculture in northeastern Cuba, and the US$1.3 million project in Nepal will help conserve endangered freshwater fish through ecosystem-based fisheries management.

A $8 million project funded by the GEF Trust Fund will enhance biodiversity, ecosystem service, and carbon sequestration in Areas Important for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (AIBDES), including areas inside and outside protected areas in South Sumatra and Central Java, Indonesia. The project aims to conserve and restore 91,000 hectares of natural ecosystems that house species such as the Javan Leopard and Sumatran Elephant. The project will also improve practices on 565,000 hectares of land, mitigate 6.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and benefit 40,000 people.

Land and water

A regional project in Kenya and Tanzania will enhance water security and improve climate resilience in the Mount Kilimanjaro region by improving the management of the shared Kilimanjaro Transboundary Aquifer System. With US$7.8 million in GEF financing, this initiative will conserve 40,000 hectares of cloud forest, ensure sustainable groundwater use, and benefit 100,000 people.

A US$5.1 million project will help achieve Liberia’s Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) commitments by enhancing soil health and reducing land degradation through sustainable management practices in targeted rice landscapes. The project will restore 25,000 hectares of land, implement sustainable land management practices across 100,000 hectares, mitigate over one million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and benefit over 60,000 people.

Chemicals

Under the Integrated Collaborative Approaches for Sustainable Tourism Programme (iCOAST), FAO will support Vanuatu in promoting sustainable practices within the tourism industry through bioeconomy and circular approaches. The project will channel US$4 million to update the national tourism strategy, restore over 32,000 hectares of degraded ecosystems, improve practices on 62,000 hectares of land and sea, and benefit over 246,000 people.

Under the Financing Agrochemical Reduction and Management Plus Programme (FARM+), FAO will support Gambia to reduce harmful agrochemical use and transition to climate-resilient, agroecological practices in rice, millet and maize production. With US$9.6 million from the GEF Trust Fund and the LDCF, the project aims to restore 10,000 hectares of land, improve practices on 120,000 hectares of land and sea, mitigate over 15,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and benefit 240,000 people.

New heights in 2024

The programme closes a year of record growth in the FAO-GEF partnership. In addition to US$440 million approved across the February, June and December work programmes in 2024, 13 FAO projects worth US$14 million in GEF resources and US$24 million in co-financing are providing global and national support in meeting reporting commitments for climate change and LDN.