Kenya is among 21 countries set to benefit from funds meant to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity.
The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund has approved a new round of preparation grants and set aside more than $70 million (Sh 9,258,979,185) for 18 new projects in beneficiary countries.
Kenya will receive $3,896,750 (Sh515,327,881) in grants that will go towards sustainable management and restoration of threatened ecological corridors.
Of the beneficiaries, 13 are least-developed countries and small island developing states.
The World Bank is the implementing agency. The projects will advance many of the Biodiversity Plan targets, particularly 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 13, 18, 19, 22, and 23.
The targets are focused on enhancing biodiversity, including support for more than 8 million hectares of terrestrial and marine protected areas.
Barely a year old, the GBFF, which is housed at the Global Environment Facility, is gaining momentum in its bid to put nature on a path to recovery before 2030.
Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, the GEF boss and chairperson, celebrated the announcement during the week of the International Day for Biological Diversity.
“The approval of these grants shows the new fund's commitment to allocating resources efficiently to impactful projects that will promote inclusiveness. We are part of the plan," Rodríguez said.
This year’s IDB theme is a call to action for all stakeholders to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity.
The resources will fund action on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (the Biodiversity Plan) in Angola, Belize, Cambodia, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fiji, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Mozambique, Nauru, Palau, Peru, the Philippines, Samoa, Senegal, South Africa, Suriname, and Tonga.
The Framework was adopted during the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15), following a four-year consultation and negotiation process.
This framework supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and builds on the Convention’s previous Strategic Plans, and sets out an ambitious pathway to reach the global vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050.
The second round of preparation grants includes projects from six GEF implementing agencies: the Asian Development Bank, Conservation International, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, and WWF-US.
In March, the GBFF approved the first round of preparation grants for four projects totaling nearly $40 million in Brazil, Gabon, and Mexico.
Together, the two rounds set aside $110 million (Sh 14,550,524,159) for 22 projects in 24 countries, with 35 per cent of this funding expected to support action by Indigenous Peoples and local communities for biodiversity.
GBFF resources are allocated in a country-driven manner to projects through consecutive selection rounds open to all eligible countries.
The Fund was launched last August during the GEF Assembly in Canada to support the Biodiversity Plan.
So far, it has received contributions from six countries: Canada, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, Spain, and the United Kingdom.