Govt. seeks alliances to manage Gef funding

Govt. seeks alliances to manage Gef funding

Govt. seeks alliances to manage Gef funding - 18.04.2013

The Ministry of Environment and Energy has reached out to environmental non-governmental organisations (NGO) and civil society to become more involved in the government’s efforts to make use of the funds available from the Global Environment Facility (Gef).
Mr Agricole addressing delegates at the workshop




This emerged at an information-sharing workshop between public and private environmental stakeholders this week at the Seychelles Trading Company’s conference room.
Environment and energy principal secretary Wills Agricole said he thought the workshop had come at the right time.

“Very big projects pose a challenge because of the limited capacity in the country,” Mr Agricole said. “Therefore it is very important for us to get everybody involved and I implore especially civil society, the private sector and the young graduates to get on board, because the future cost of inaction, particularly in relation to our climate change adaptation project, is expected to exceed by far the cost of timely action.”

Established in 1991, the Gef comprises 182 member states in partnership with international institutions, NGOs, and the private sector to address global environmental issues. Currently, the Gef is the largest public funder worldwide of projects aiming to generate global environmental benefits, while supporting national sustainable development initiatives.

Didier Dogley, special advisor to the Minister for Environment and Energy, acknowledged that the perception of Gef has been mixed up until the past few years due to the perception that getting funding from the Gef was too cumbersome and bureaucratic.

“Previously, it would have taken up to three years to get approval for a project, but now after a major restructuring, this process has been cut down to about six months,” Mr Dogley said.
“The Gef has also received a lot of criticism and complaints from member states and I know in Seychelles for example there are a lot of people who are not very happy with what Gef does.”

“This is because the way Gef approaches project financing is that it finances only incremental amounts, not the baseline funding, and that of course, brings in a lot of discontent. There is also the issue of co-financing, whereby for every dollar that the Gef gives you, you need to put in two to four dollars of co-financing.”

The Gef has allocated US $10.5 billion, supplemented by more than US $ 51 billion in co-financing for over 2,700 projects. Gef resources go directly to developing countries for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, persistent organic pollutants, and the ozone layer.

Mr Dogley explained that each time project funding is allocated from Gef to Seychelles, a national dialogue initiative is held where delegates discuss the best ways to use the funds to address local priority needs.

“We need everyone to be on board because government does not have the capacity to do this alone,” added Mr Dogley.
Since joining the Gef, Seychelles has received Gef grants totalling US $16.5 million that leveraged US $25.8 million in co-financing resources for 17 national projects. These include 10 projects in biodiversity, three in each of climate change and multi-focal areas, and one in persistent organic pollutants.

Additionally, the Gef small grants programme (GEF SGP), which started in Seychelles in 2008, received financial support amounting to US $475,000 and leveraging over US $277,000 in co-financing resources for 11 projects executed by civil society and community-based organisations.

During the current Gef-5 replenishment period (July 2010 – June 2014), Seychelles has received an indicative allocation to formulate and execute projects for US $4,900,000 in biodiversity, US $2,000,000 in climate change, and US $710,000 in land degradation.




http://www.nation.sc/index.php?art=31185


http://www.thegef.org/gef/

World Bank Global Environment Facility Operations
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/ENVIRONMENT/EXTGLOBALENVIRONMENTFACILITYGEFOPERATIONS/0,,menuPK:286248~pagePK:149018~piPK:149093~theSitePK:286243,00.html

http://unfccc.int/cooperation_support/financial_mechanism/guidance/items/3655.php

http://web.undp.org/gef/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Environment_Facility
Comment: Please refer our comment on the rights and capacity of small nations to use such terminology as "gearing and leverage"

EUCAP NESTOR opens office in Seychelles - 25.04.2013

EUCAP NESTOR, a mission dedicated to helping the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG), judiciary and police in ensuring maritime security, has opened an office in the country.


Attending the official ceremony yesterday at the new Coast Guard base at Ile Perseverance were chief justice Fredrick Egonda-Ntende, Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam, chief of defence forces Brigadier Leopold Payet, head of mission for EUCAP NESTOR, Admiral Jacques Launay, and deputy commander of the EU naval operation, EUNavfor Atalanta, Rear Admiral Eric Dupont.

Members of the diplomatic corps and the judiciary, SCG officials, and other high government officials were present at the ceremony as well as commanding officer of the BPC Tonnerre Captain Jean-François Quérat of the Atalanta mission.

EUCAP NESTOR is a European regional capacity-building mission aimed at enhancing the maritime capacities of initially three to five countries in the Horn of Africa and the western Indian Ocean.
Speaking at the opening, Minister Adam said there is a need to continuously be aware and prepared for potential evolutions in the way in which piracy is conducted as well as potential rise in other criminal activities at sea.

He added that the threat of piracy has already cost the country enormously in terms of its development.

Mr Adam said the results of the partnership in the fight against piracy between the European Union and Seychelles speaks for itself in the dramatic reduction in successful piracy attacks.

“Creating a secure ocean means investing in a common future – investing in a future where we do not only look at our own capacity but that of the region,” he said.

Addressing those present, Admiral Launay said there is a need to promote the idea of maritime security, the capacity and experience of Seychelles in the fight against piracy and in the promotion of maritime security.

He added that Seychelles is a good example to be used to show of what can be done for the region and with the cooperation of the region.

http://www.nation.sc/index.php?art=31271