India to benefit from GEF funding for biodiversity conservation

Earlier this month, the 67th meeting of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) culminated in an approval for $736.4 million in funding with total of 34 nature protection and renewal projects being provided funds.

According to a GEF press release, the diverse package of financing includes the new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund’s first three approved projects, less than a year after the fund’s launch, and the most support ever provided by the Least Developed Countries Fund for climate change adaptation. Other highlights include the new Sustainable Cities Integrated Program and support for an innovative new coral bond, building on the successful rhino bond issued in 2022 with GEF blended finance support.

Two projects financed by the GEF Trust Fund are in India. The first one is dedicated to enhancing conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity to meet the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets. A total of $6.7 million has been sanctioned for the project that aims to enhance India’s protected area network through promotion of other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) and an expansion of community and private conservation areas, as per the Project Summary. Achieving India’s commitment to the 30x30 target (i.e. to conserve 30% of its land and marine area by 2030) will entail the identification, mapping, recognition, and allocation of new areas under various currently recognized forms of community and private sector protected area management (e.g. biodiversity heritage sites, community reserves, conservation reserves, wetlands, coastal and marine areas, etc.) as well as allocation of OECMs so as to increase the current area under conservation from 27% to 30%. The proposed intervention pathways require improved governance, policies, monitoring and reporting, and capacities of institutions for enhancing the conservation estate, including establishing and operationalizing OECMs in the country to meet the 30x30 target (India has currently no formally declared OECMs).

The second project is ‘CoHABITAT – Conservation and sustainable management of wetlands, forest and grasslands to secure the population of Migratory species along Central Asian Flyway in India’. Awarded $10.7 million, this project focusses on conservation and sustainable management of wetlands, forests and grasslands to conserve the population of migratory bird species along the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) in India. As the Project Summary states, it aims to provide a common strategic framework and affirmative action for protecting, conserving, restoring, and sustainably managing populations of migratory bird species and their associated wetland habitats in the Indian subcontinent falling under the CAF. Despite several measures taken in the past by the Government of India to protect critical habitats along the flyway, rising incomes and consumption have recently increased across all economic classes resulting in natural habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation through conversion of wetlands, livestock grazing, urbanization, mining and industrial development. Agricultural intensification further threatens many of the wetland species through increased exposure to agrochemicals, eutrophication and loss of habitat heterogeneity. Finally, overarching threats such as anthropogenic climate change are posing danger for vulnerable ecosystems such as coastal areas, riparian and floodplain areas and migratory birds that dependent on them. To address these threats, the project has developed a clear strategy and step-by-step approach to identify and manage critical corridors and transition areas to improve ecological conditions, connectivity and integrity of wetland sites on the CAF.

As the press release highlights, the funding from the GEF Trust Fund, Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), and Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), reflects a commitment to deploy grants quickly and efficiently to developing countries whose action on environmental challenges is key to meeting global biodiversity, climate change, and pollution goals this decade. The package of support includes nearly $500 million for 25 projects and programs, among them the new global Sustainable Cities Integrated Program, and multiple efforts to address chemicals and waste challenges, including in Bolivia’s cement, textile, brick, and glass sectors, in Brazil’s cement industry, and in electronics globally. It also includes support for a new Indonesia Coral Bond that will connect private capital with urgent conservation needs.

Focusing on climate change adaption, Council members approved a record $203 million from the LDCF for initiatives across 20 LDCs. The LDCF support will propel efforts to enhance resilience to flooding and drought in Laos and Cambodia; to develop climate-resilient transport infrastructure in São Tomé and Príncipe; to support youth- and women-led green enterprises in Chad; to improve food security in Sierra Leone; and to address other urgent needs.