Thirty donor countries have pledged a record amount of US$4.43 billion for the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The GEF funding will support projects in more than 140 countries, including 54 in Africa, in tackling a broad range of threats to the global environment, including climate change, deforestation, land degradation, extinction of species, toxic chemicals and waste, and threats to oceans and freshwater resources. According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), one of the implementing agencies of the GEF, it is the main global mechanism to support developing countries to fulfil their commitments under the world’s major multilateral environmental agreements.

AfDB Vice-President of Infrastructure, Private Sector and Regional Integration, Gilbert Mbesherubusa, has commended the record funding and said, “With the African continent bound to register the most significant economic growth over the decades to come, the African Development Bank will need to be at the forefront to ensure that economic growth is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy (2013–2022). The GEF, having the same vision of sustainable development as the AfDB, will be a key ally in this endeavour.”