As part of the on-going 6^th Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the 3-day 54^th GEF Council Meeting opened at the Ariyana Convention and Exhibition Centre of the Furama Resort Danang on 24 June. 

The Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment has already recommended GEF to facilitate Da Nang to participate in the Global Platform for Sustainable Cities – GPSC).

In her remarks at the event, Ms Naoko Ishii, the CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), highlighted that it was meeting at “a critical moment for the future of our planet and its people”.

The Meeting was an opportunity to both look back on what GEF achieved in the past 4 years, and look ahead and launch GEF-7.

She remarked, “It is extremely urgent,” to come together and transform the key economic systems, like food and land-use, energy, cities, and patterns of production and consumption.

She vowed that the GEF would continue to offer “innovative programmes” to support countries worldwide in doing these tasks effectively.

Ishii said that this would make the GEF and its partners even stronger and more effective, with “some very ambitious programming directions which aim high in terms of impact, which build on the GEF's uniqueness as a financial mechanism for many conventions, and emphasise its role in some new, emerging priority areas, like marine plastics”.

Mr Peter Elder, Director of Climate and Environment Funds in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was elected as co-chair of the 54^th GEF Council, which ends June 26. 

In the morning, Ishii presented the Summary of the GEF-7 Replenishment Negotiations, highlighting the agreement of a replenishment of 4.1 billion US$, attributing the decreased replenishment compared to previous years to currency fluctuations, among other issues.

Key highlights of Day One included discussions on the 7^th Replenishment of the GEF Trust Fund (GEF-7), which has been considered at four replenishment meetings from March 2017 to April 2018; the GEF Gender Implementation Strategy, which aims to mainstream gender in the design, implementation, and evaluation of GEF programmes and projects;the updated co-financing strategy, with a new overall co-financing ratio of 7:1; the GEF Partnership, where delegates considered whether to defer to the 55^th Council meeting, a decision on the application of a 30% ceiling on the GEF’s share of an Agency’s portfolio; updating the System for Transparent Allocation of Resources (STAR); and the 2019 GEF Business Plan and Corporate Budget, approving a corporate budget from the GEF Trust Fund of 27.971 million US$.

Delegates exchanging their ideas on the sidelines of the event

The 54^th GEF Council Meeting will be followed by the 6^th GEF Assembly (27-28 June), which meets every 4 years, and is expecting 1,200 participants, including heads of state, environment ministers, UN, NGO and business leaders.

Earlier on 23 June, the first day of GEF-6, the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment had already recommended GEF facilitate Da Nang to participate in the Global Platform for Sustainable Cities – GPSC).

Funded by the GEF, the platform currently comprises of 28 cities across 11 countries around the world. The GPSC works with practitioners and thought leaders from around the world to develop solutions for sustainable urban growth.

Together, GPSC’s partner cities can advance towards their visions and goals of being cities that are competitive, inclusive, and resilient.