The 6th GEF Assembly will attract the participation of nearly 1,500 delegates, including the ministers in charge of environment and senior officials from 183 member countries, leaders of the United Nations agencies, regional development banks, socio-economic organizations and businesses.
The Prime Minister of Vietnam will be present at the event.
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The sixth Assembly of the Global Environment Facility and related meetings will take place in the Central city of Da Nang from June 23-29. Photo: moitruong.net.vn |
A series of events are planned for besides the GEF Assembly, such as the meeting of the GEF Council, 14 round-table sessions, forums and meetings of socio-political organizations, 17 technical meetings of GEF units, about 70 sideline events, as well as exhibitions and fact-finding trips funded by the GEF.
The GEF Assembly will review and adopt directions and solutions to current global environment issues, and allocate resources for environment projects during the GEF’s 7th cycle (GEF 7) from 2018-2022.
Nearly 30 countries have committed USD 4.1 billion to the GEF 7 to better protect the future of the planet and human health.
The sixth GEF Assembly will also convey a message of Vietnam’s strong commitment to sustainable development, especially in delivering on international commitments on environment to which Vietnam is a member. It will also offer Vietnam a chance to foster bilateral and multilateral cooperation, seek opportunities to receive financial and technological support, and strengthen capacity in the fields of climate change response, biodiversity, chemicals, land degradation, sustainable forest management, popularization of Vietnamese tourism, culture and people.
Established in 1991 with a mission to deal with global environment issues, GEF has funded USD 14.5 billion and raised additional USD 75.4 billion for nearly 4,000 relevant projects. With 183 member countries, GEF is an independent financial organization offering the largest volume of public capital to environment projects, mostly in biodiversity preservation, climate change, land degradation, chemicals and wastes, sustainable forest management and comprehensive approach.
Vietnam joined the GEF in December 5, 1994, with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment serving as the national coordinator.
Since its establishment, GEF Vietnam has raised USD 457.18 million for 107 environment projects in different sectors and localities. Of them, 56 are national-level projects worth USD 153.8 million and 47 are regional and global projects worth a total of USD 294 million. Additionally, there are 4 projects funded by the Special Climate Change Fund with a total value of roughly USD 9 million.
During the GEF 6, Vietnam was allocated over USD 26 million for projects in the fields of climate change (over USD 11 million), land degradation (over USD 1.5 million) and biodiversity (over USD 13 million). As of late 2016, the GEF Vietnam Office gave nod to 15 projects worth USD 24.6 million in the System for Transparent Allocation of Resources (STAR) of which the GEF consented to 6 projects valued at over USD 18.8 million.
GEF also offered roughly USD 15 million in aid to Vietnam in chemicals and wastes, international waters, sustainable forest management, and comprehensive approaches.
Source: VNA