About the GEF
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a multilateral financial mechanism established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, having originated as a World Bank pilot programme in 1991. It operates as an international partnership of 183 member countries, alongside international institutions, civil society and the private sector, to fund projects addressing global environmental challenges in developing countries and economies in transition. The GEF served as the funding channel for the Government of India–GEF–UNDP initiative that prepared the Clouded Leopard Conservation Action Plan (CAP).
Key Facts
| Particular | Details |
| Established | 1991 (as a World Bank pilot); restructured as an independent mechanism on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit |
| Member countries | 183 |
| Secretariat | Washington, D.C. |
| Trustee | World Bank (administers the GEF Trust Fund) |
| Original implementing partners | UNDP, UNEP, World Bank |
| Governing body | GEF Council — 32 members (14 developed, 16 developing, 2 economies in transition) |
| India’s political focal point | Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance |
| India’s operational focal point | Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change |
| India’s regional grouping | Permanent constituency with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives |
Institutional Structure
- Serves as the financial mechanism for five major conventions: UNFCCC, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Stockholm Convention on POPs, and the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
- Core focal areas: biodiversity, climate change, land degradation, international waters, chemicals & waste, and sustainable forest management.
- Operates dedicated funds including the GEF Trust Fund, the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF).
- Also supports implementation of the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances, though not formally linked to it.
Conclusion
As the oldest and broadest multilateral environmental financing mechanism, the GEF channels grant funding — including for India’s Clouded Leopard Conservation Action Plan — across biodiversity, climate and land-degradation priorities under five global conventions.
| This concept has been elaborately discussed in the following article – India Launches Clouded Leopard Conservation Action Plan for Northeast India |