Minister Cosgrow attends 6th GEF Assembly |02 July 2018
The Minister for Environment, Energy and Climate Change Wallace Cosgrow attended the 6th Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly and associated meetings which took place in Da Nang, Vietnam on June 27-28, 2018.
In his statement before the 6th Assembly, he thanked the GEF for organising a successful meeting and the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the warm hospitality afforded to him and his small delegation.
Minister Cosgrow congratulated the GEF for successfully negotiating and concluding the replenishment of funds for GEF 7.
He stated that the GEF has been an important partner in environmental management, providing assistance to facilitate the delivery of several multilateral environmental agreements.
The government and the civil society organisations with the support of GEF have together been able to make significant progress in tackling many issues through a series of projects under different thematic areas.
These projects have provided essential support to development planning processes, legal framework for environmental and land use planning, land management issues, protected area management and mainstreaming biodiversity into key economic sectors among many others.
The establishment of the Project Coordination Unit in 2008 to manage and implement GEF projects has brought about greater efficiency together with the support of the UNDP as our implementing partner.
The minister pointed out that Seychelles is one of the recipients benefitting with the largest amount of GEF funding per capita and that he believes we have made excellent use of the support.
Seychelles is currently implementing two GEF 6 projects, one focusing on piloting a ridge to reef approach that addresses priorities for improved management and conservation of upland forest, agricultural ecosystems as well as coastal and marine ecosystems and the other in the blue economy sector focusing on the development of sustainable fisheries and support for the execution of our marine spatial planning process and piloting of a blue bond mechanism.
The minister also urged the GEF to continue to take small island developing states’ unique circumstances into account and to address them in a manner that is transparent and inclusive.
The 6th Assembly was also attended by the principal secretary for energy and climate change Wills Agricole, who is also the GEF Operational Focal Point for Seychelles.
The GEF was established on the eve of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. The objectives is to tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental problems.
The Assembly, which is held every four years, is the GEF’s highest governing body and gathers representatives of all its 183-member countries in partnership with international institutions, civil society organisations and private sectors to address global environmental issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives. The 6th GEF Assembly was an opportunity to celebrate past achievements and the launch of its seventh replenishment cycle (GEF-7).