 |
 CSO Consultation Summary:
Faizal Parish,
GEF NGO Network Central Focal Point, opened the GEF Council
Consultation Meeting with Civil Society Organizations on Monday, 17
June 2013, noting this unique platform for dialogue and exchange of
ideas for the long term planning and implementation of GEF policy and
programmes.
CSO Dialogue with the GEF CEO and Chairperson
Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson of the GEF,
highlighted the need for a bold policy strategy embodied in, among
other things, the GEF 2020 Strategy and the sixth replenishment of the
GEF (GEF 6) to tackle the underlying drivers of global environmental
degradation. She stressed strengthening partnerships with CSOs and
other stakeholders, and underscored results- and knowledge-based
management systems to enhance the work of the GEF.
Responding to questions, Ishii: noted
that the time taken to engage CSOs is less compared to the past, but a
lot remains to be done to fully engage the CSOs; stressed the
importance of convincing governments to foster CSO involvement in
national level implementation; and highlighted the role of cities in
leading the dialogue on involving national governments in
environmental protection, particularly between the period 2015-2020,
when there is a potential climate change governance gap.
Session 1: The Road Towards GEF 6
This session was co-moderated by Pillar
Barrera, GEF Secretariat, and Essam Nada, Regional Focal Point for
North Africa. Participants heard from members of the GEF Secretariat
dealing with seven focal areas: climate change mitigation, chemicals
and wastes, climate change adaptation, biodiversity, international
waters, land degradation, and sustainable forest management. The
discussion focused on a range of issues, including: guidelines for CSO
engagement in GEF projects; the advantages and disadvantages of
multi-focal approaches to climate smart agriculture; the need for
political will at the national level to involve CSOs in dealing with
environmental degradation; the negative link between poverty
alleviation and environmental degradation; the need for the GEF to
engage at the convention-level, and also engage actors at the national
and local levels; the GEF’s support for the Bamako Convention on the
management of hazardous wastes in Africa; co-financing of sustainable
forestry management projects; the integration of adaptation in all GEF
focal areas; and the need for CSOs to be more proactive in providing
input to national plans of implementation.
Robert van den Berg, Director, GEF
Evaluation Office, then presented a sub-study on CSO involvement to be
completed by October 2013, and participants suggested, inter alia, a section on the constraints to CSO engagement including resources.
Session 2: Interactive Dialogue on the Future Strategic Role of GEF
This session was co-moderated by Faizal
Parish and Fiu Mataese Elisara, Regional Focal Point for the Pacific
Region. Claus Astrup, Advisor to the GEF CEO, GEF Secretariat,
presented the GEF 2020 Strategy, which underscores the need to:
understand the drivers of global environmental degradation; engage
proactively with partners; and strengthen the GEF as a knowledge
institution.
Presenting on "CSO Perspectives on the
Future of GEF," Maria Leichner, Regional Focal Point for South America,
called for further understanding the links between civil society and
the GEF in order to fortify partnerships. Victor Kawanga, Regional
Focal Point for Southern Africa region, argued that CSOs posses
specific skills resulting from operations on the ground.
In the panel discussion, Ximena
George-Nascimento, GEF Council Member Alternate, Chile, proposed better
engagement with the operational focal points to promote a stronger
information flow between the focal points and the CSOs. Maryam
Naimir-Fuller, UN Environment Programme, noted calls for synergies
within multilateral environmental agreements, and lauded the GEF’s move
towards multi-focal activities. Matthew Kotchen, GEF Council Member,
US, highlighted the technical assistance provided by the GEF, as well
as the policy reform it engages in, noting that these institutional
approaches are as important as the work on the ground. Delfin Ganapin,
GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP), noted that GEF 6 will see the SGP
transform into a “grantmaker plus (+),” and scale up small projects to
medium sized projects. Godwin Fishani Gondwe, GEF Council Member
Alternate, Zambia, stressed understanding the drivers of unsustainable
development in order to propose and implement helpful solutions for all
three pillars of sustainable development.
Participants then discussed, inter alia;
the role of the GEF in the emerging sustainable development goals; the
need for disaggregated data showing the benefits of the SGP to
Indigenous Peoples; the relationship between governments and CSOs;
scaling up GEF 2020; private sector engagement; and the role of the NGO
Network in shaping GEF policy.
CLOSING:
Faizal Parish noted that implementation of
the GEF 2020 will require resources from both the traditional donor
governments and new partnerships, underscored the need to fully define
“CSO engagement” in order to set targets to enhance it, and suggested
that GEF 6 consider further involving CSOs in their signature
programmes in order to foster greater public engagement. He closed the
Consultation at 4:38pm. |
|
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment