Govt. seeks alliances to manage Gef funding
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Govt. seeks alliances to manage Gef funding
Sirop14 Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:59 am
- 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
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
Sirop14- Posts : 26866
Join date : 2008-06-02
Re: Govt. seeks alliances to manage Gef funding
Sirop14 Fri Apr 19, 2013 3:11 pm
‘Isles now in loss control phase of climate change’ - 19.04.2013
Our island nations have already entered the loss and damage control phase of climate change and we are no longer in the stage where we were just trying to cope with changing weather patterns.
Mr Agricole addressing the delegates and guests
Principal secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Energy Wills Agricole said this yesterday when he launched the third meeting of the Regional Platform for Risk Transfer Mechanisms at the International Conference Centre.
The meeting is being attended by delegates from Indian Ocean island nations and representatives of Zanzibar.
Seychelles – through President James Michel’s actions and statements at international forums – has been active in trying to warn the world that the effects of climate change would come sooner than many thought and action and not just words was needed.
Mr Agricole showed this has already happened by quoting recent disasters which have hit most of our regional countries:
“I want to caution that we are no longer in the mitigation and adaptation era. We are now in a loss and damage era. This is evidently shown by the recent increase of natural disasters affecting the countries within the western Indian Ocean region,” he said.
“During the last three months it was Seychelles, the last three weeks it was Mauritius and the last three days it has been Rodrigues Island … and now the big question is; who is next?
He told delegates if we are going to value the hard work of all government economic plans within the region, the delegates’ presence at the two-day conference is equally important because they are the ones responsible to ensure what has been achieved economically faces less risk and is less vulnerable to natural disasters.
Mr Agricole said after witnessing the launch of the joint project and cooperation of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), the Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) on the disaster risk transfer mechanisms on Monday, the conference he launched yesterday is timely as it sustains the momentum that is critically needed now to progress and make the necessary improvements.
It is needed for the governments to cope with the challenges they now and will in the future face if capacity is not built to tackle the pre- and post-disaster prevention and recovery.
“We were told on Monday that the direct losses due to natural disasters in the five member countries of the Indian Ocean Commission represent nearly US $2.8 billion over the past 30 years. This is quite alarming and therefore, risk reduction strategies have to urgently be put in place to tackle such threat. Hence we have to develop tools to mitigate the economic impact of natural disasters through what is called risk transfer mechanism.”
He said over the last 10 years, most small island states have gradually set up preventive and preparatory measures against natural and climate disasters.
“However, although these measures generally helped to reduce the loss of lives, economic losses did not stop increasing simply because our societies are more and more vulnerable. This is why members of the regional platform comprising Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zanzibar recognise that the implementation of disaster risk transfer mechanisms requires the adoption of specific evaluation processes and risk modelling, and that risk reduction and risk financing strategies can only be set up after the execution of such processes.”
He said this is why the Indian Ocean Commission has engaged with the GFDRR and UNISDR and their partners to support the ISLANDS/IOC project to realise its goal of risk transfer mechanisms, in developing a better understanding of financial impact of natural disasters, and in helping the project to develop a database and modeling tools for risks.
The meeting is being chaired by Colonel Mamy Razakanaivo. Among those present at the opening session were Jeanette d’Offay who represented the IOC’s secretary general, Roberto White of the UNISDR, analyst Laura Boudreau who was working for the Disaster Risk Financing & Insurance and the GFDRR of the World Bank; and disaster risk management coordinator Doekle Wielinga of the African Risk Capacity project.
http://www.nation.sc/index.php?art=31196
Seychelles, IOC members receive disaster grant
http://www.nation.sc/index.php?art=31203
Our island nations have already entered the loss and damage control phase of climate change and we are no longer in the stage where we were just trying to cope with changing weather patterns.
Mr Agricole addressing the delegates and guests
Principal secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Energy Wills Agricole said this yesterday when he launched the third meeting of the Regional Platform for Risk Transfer Mechanisms at the International Conference Centre.
The meeting is being attended by delegates from Indian Ocean island nations and representatives of Zanzibar.
Seychelles – through President James Michel’s actions and statements at international forums – has been active in trying to warn the world that the effects of climate change would come sooner than many thought and action and not just words was needed.
Mr Agricole showed this has already happened by quoting recent disasters which have hit most of our regional countries:
“I want to caution that we are no longer in the mitigation and adaptation era. We are now in a loss and damage era. This is evidently shown by the recent increase of natural disasters affecting the countries within the western Indian Ocean region,” he said.
“During the last three months it was Seychelles, the last three weeks it was Mauritius and the last three days it has been Rodrigues Island … and now the big question is; who is next?
He told delegates if we are going to value the hard work of all government economic plans within the region, the delegates’ presence at the two-day conference is equally important because they are the ones responsible to ensure what has been achieved economically faces less risk and is less vulnerable to natural disasters.
Mr Agricole said after witnessing the launch of the joint project and cooperation of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), the Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) on the disaster risk transfer mechanisms on Monday, the conference he launched yesterday is timely as it sustains the momentum that is critically needed now to progress and make the necessary improvements.
It is needed for the governments to cope with the challenges they now and will in the future face if capacity is not built to tackle the pre- and post-disaster prevention and recovery.
“We were told on Monday that the direct losses due to natural disasters in the five member countries of the Indian Ocean Commission represent nearly US $2.8 billion over the past 30 years. This is quite alarming and therefore, risk reduction strategies have to urgently be put in place to tackle such threat. Hence we have to develop tools to mitigate the economic impact of natural disasters through what is called risk transfer mechanism.”
He said over the last 10 years, most small island states have gradually set up preventive and preparatory measures against natural and climate disasters.
“However, although these measures generally helped to reduce the loss of lives, economic losses did not stop increasing simply because our societies are more and more vulnerable. This is why members of the regional platform comprising Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zanzibar recognise that the implementation of disaster risk transfer mechanisms requires the adoption of specific evaluation processes and risk modelling, and that risk reduction and risk financing strategies can only be set up after the execution of such processes.”
He said this is why the Indian Ocean Commission has engaged with the GFDRR and UNISDR and their partners to support the ISLANDS/IOC project to realise its goal of risk transfer mechanisms, in developing a better understanding of financial impact of natural disasters, and in helping the project to develop a database and modeling tools for risks.
The meeting is being chaired by Colonel Mamy Razakanaivo. Among those present at the opening session were Jeanette d’Offay who represented the IOC’s secretary general, Roberto White of the UNISDR, analyst Laura Boudreau who was working for the Disaster Risk Financing & Insurance and the GFDRR of the World Bank; and disaster risk management coordinator Doekle Wielinga of the African Risk Capacity project.
http://www.nation.sc/index.php?art=31196
Seychelles, IOC members receive disaster grant
http://www.nation.sc/index.php?art=31203
Sirop14- Posts : 26866
Join date : 2008-06-02
That is not the way to work - this is recipe for disaster
Sirop14 Sat Apr 20, 2013 6:37 pm
Among on of the main reason as conceptor and Leader of that SIROP program refused to bring the UN and a few other international institutions on Board - was then global attitude towards Small and Developing Nations - until then had acquired global experience working indirectly with a number of leading international Bodies - Institutions.
One of the core issues was over the process of accountability - then international; Benchmark of accountability, reporting and approach - Small nations were being fleeced to use the proper wording and we strongly objected to this.
We had also put in place measures and structure to manage and provide accountability and reporting which even in the year 2013 surpass those of many leading International bodies and their Benchmark. They would have judge it in 1886/7 lunacy, madness, utopia - for instance those form the "illuminati/fraternal/ Templar and Masonic" who knew what we were working on and the greater objective. One of this a complete different approach of Managing and sharing information as in the 1985 - then IT - we were working with then French President Mitterrand to take the Minitel and deploy the Technology Global. At 25 Rue Cadet they got utterly sacred like rabbits or the such. Still that did not stop me/us.
The objective developing a different global Gearing and leverage mechanism for the future and the envisaged change in the COMECON, the USSR, Africa, Latin America and the Indian Ocean. Equally High Management disciplines to manage the greater impacts be they Climate, ecology, Society, the long list. Lady Thatcher was very aware of those issues, because we were workings/associations with Prof Von Hayak and Prof Hoffman and certain in France and Switzerland.
In Seychelles - the government announcement they cannot alone manage the mess they have created from greed, dreadful benchmark and those with very short visions. They are now calling on NGO, Business, Academicians. The task of Managing or even attempting to reverse the situation is going to prove very challenging - it will require the development of very unique disciplines and currently looking at those globally for all their wealth, human resources, Technology they will not produce anything unique because if they could sine 2008 and well before that date they would have put in place measures - develop the due disciplines. .
We want to state very openly and bluntly - the mega Resources thrown behind the EU wrongly concept-ed Terrorist Department and Legislation's - what they were all about, we are talking of the elite of the EU and the world banning together, to create and deploy highly bogus disciplines and accountability Benchmark. The high percentage of this which have corrupted Seychelles and the Regional /Small nations workings.
For this reason we had fought for SIROP independence as an exile/refugee voluntary repatriation program. Over the 21 years the positive experience everybody harvested - yet the dishonesty prevails and the terrible corruption.
Some 23 years on the World Power has changed and shifted, Today's workings in the Regional Indian Ocean, Gulf Region, Asia and Africa - yet those with their SIM and Equator Institute Training are being called to provide solutions. Friends we spell it very clear here those who go to great length to study many complex aspects of engineering - we have played a very crucial role in engineering those issues in the Indian Ocean for the past 25 years.
We have addressed the Environment and Energy Department in Seychelles as usual they will not reply instead use corrupted and dishonest manner and approach of extracting and harvesting such information and knowledge from our person, then try and use/implement them in some way - that is not the way to work - this is recipe for disaster.
One of the core issues was over the process of accountability - then international; Benchmark of accountability, reporting and approach - Small nations were being fleeced to use the proper wording and we strongly objected to this.
We had also put in place measures and structure to manage and provide accountability and reporting which even in the year 2013 surpass those of many leading International bodies and their Benchmark. They would have judge it in 1886/7 lunacy, madness, utopia - for instance those form the "illuminati/fraternal/ Templar and Masonic" who knew what we were working on and the greater objective. One of this a complete different approach of Managing and sharing information as in the 1985 - then IT - we were working with then French President Mitterrand to take the Minitel and deploy the Technology Global. At 25 Rue Cadet they got utterly sacred like rabbits or the such. Still that did not stop me/us.
The objective developing a different global Gearing and leverage mechanism for the future and the envisaged change in the COMECON, the USSR, Africa, Latin America and the Indian Ocean. Equally High Management disciplines to manage the greater impacts be they Climate, ecology, Society, the long list. Lady Thatcher was very aware of those issues, because we were workings/associations with Prof Von Hayak and Prof Hoffman and certain in France and Switzerland.
In Seychelles - the government announcement they cannot alone manage the mess they have created from greed, dreadful benchmark and those with very short visions. They are now calling on NGO, Business, Academicians. The task of Managing or even attempting to reverse the situation is going to prove very challenging - it will require the development of very unique disciplines and currently looking at those globally for all their wealth, human resources, Technology they will not produce anything unique because if they could sine 2008 and well before that date they would have put in place measures - develop the due disciplines. .
We want to state very openly and bluntly - the mega Resources thrown behind the EU wrongly concept-ed Terrorist Department and Legislation's - what they were all about, we are talking of the elite of the EU and the world banning together, to create and deploy highly bogus disciplines and accountability Benchmark. The high percentage of this which have corrupted Seychelles and the Regional /Small nations workings.
For this reason we had fought for SIROP independence as an exile/refugee voluntary repatriation program. Over the 21 years the positive experience everybody harvested - yet the dishonesty prevails and the terrible corruption.
Some 23 years on the World Power has changed and shifted, Today's workings in the Regional Indian Ocean, Gulf Region, Asia and Africa - yet those with their SIM and Equator Institute Training are being called to provide solutions. Friends we spell it very clear here those who go to great length to study many complex aspects of engineering - we have played a very crucial role in engineering those issues in the Indian Ocean for the past 25 years.
We have addressed the Environment and Energy Department in Seychelles as usual they will not reply instead use corrupted and dishonest manner and approach of extracting and harvesting such information and knowledge from our person, then try and use/implement them in some way - that is not the way to work - this is recipe for disaster.
Sirop14- Posts : 26866
Join date : 2008-06-02
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