Brazil, Gabon, Mexico gets $40m biodiversity grants

By Samuel Ogunsona

The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) has set aside nearly $40millon to support new proposed initiatives in Brazil, Gabon, and Mexico as it puts nature on a path of recovery.

The new biodiversity fund is set aside for initiatives that are set to make significant contributions towards Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets.

Gabon is the only African beneficiary.

The project preparation grants from the less than 1-year-old fund, housed at the Global Environment Facility, GEF, will support strategies to ensure long-term financing, improved management, and expansion of protected areas, in partnership with Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

However, Half of the fund set aside for the initial four initiatives is to support actions by Indigenous Peoples and local communities for the conservation, restoration, sustainable use, and management of biodiversity.

Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, The CEO and Chairperson of GEF, in his statement congratulates Brazil, Gabon, and Mexico for their efforts to prioritize meaningful initiatives that the GBFF can support.

I am thrilled to see the GBFF up and running and providing high-impact support to biodiverse countries whose work to protect nature is critically important to 2030 goals. I congratulate Brazil, Gabon, and Mexico for their efforts to prioritize meaningful initiatives that the GBFF can support in a way that builds on and amplifies financing from the Global Environment Facility trust fund related to biodiversity. This is an excellent start and there is much more good news for nature to come on the road to COP16 in Colombia,” Rodríguez said.

David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, welcomed the approval of the project preparation grants as a positive step ahead of COP16 In Colombia.

“I hope that this early progress ahead of COP16 will inspire more proposals from countries and also encourage further donors to contribute to the new fund,” Cooper said.