GEF: The Global Environment Facility, established in 1991, helps developing countries fund projects and programs that protect the global environment. GEF grants support projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants. http://dgef.unep.org/

GEF funded International Waters Projects in the WIO:

3 GEF Projects together form a programme entitled “Agulhas and Somali Current Large Marine Eosystem Programme”. The WIO-LaB project concentrates on land-based activities, the SWIOFP's focus is on commercial fisheries, and ASCLME focuses on the bridging factors between the two and maintains oversight on the overall LME approach.

-The World Bank GEF South Western Indian Ocean Fisheries Project (SWIOFP): The project is aimed at building capacity so that the participating countries may make an informed decision to develop a management strategy for the offshore living resources of the two Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) that extend to the 200 Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of Mozambique, Madagascar, Comoros, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. http://www.swiofp.org/

-The UNDP/GEF Agulhas and Somali Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project (ASCLME): The objective of the Project is to work with two other "thematic" GEF international waters projects in the area as part of a "strategic approach" to fill gaps in understanding transboundary living resources of the two LMEs and to build capacity of the participating countries to utilize this improved understanding for more effective management by use of an ecosystem approach. This is a pre-SAP project and will contribute at project's end to a revised TDA/SAP for the LMEs as one outcome in conjunction with the other 2 projects.   http://www.iwlearn.net/projects/profile.php?dcid=2042

There are a number of other GEF projects either ongoing or being planned in the region. One of the purposes of the IW Forum (refer to WIO-LaB’s IWF in the ‘Partnerships’ page) is to discuss the synergies and possibilities of cooperation between such activities. Your comments are welcome.

Other GEF Operational projects:

Development and Protection of the Coastal and Marine Environment in Sub-Saharan Africa (CMEA): The project aims to augment existing activities by improving coordination and by initiating actions based on new partnerships. The specific objectives of the project are to: Identify areas, sites or living resources of regional and global significance that are suffering measurable degradation (i.e., hot-spots); to determine the sources/causes of this degradation and the associated scales of impact; to identify areas, sites and resources of regional significance that, although not currently degraded, are threatened with future degradation either because of the sensitivity or the magnitude of activity posing the threat; to determine, through root-cause analysis, the fundamental causes of the damage or threat posed; and to design a programme of interventions addressing problems of regional priority that may be presented to the Partnership Conference. http://www.iwlearn.net/projects/africa.php#1

Western Indian Ocean Oil Spill Contingency Planning: The project objective is to protect the environmental integrity and significant biodiversity of a large, biologically rich and relatively pristine part of the Western Indian Ocean from the risks and consequences of oil spills, particularly major (Tier 3) spills. It will achieve this by helping the small island states of Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar and Seychelles comply with the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation (OPRC). The project will be implemented jointly by the oil industry and the four participating Governments, coordinated by the Indian Ocean Commission, and assisted by the International Maritime Organization, South Africa and France. http://www.iwlearn.net/projects/africa.php#1

Tanzania, Marine and Coastal Environment Management Project: The Project seeks to improve the regulatory and institutional framework for management of marine resources, particularly establishing the links between the marine environment and the fisheries resource and what are expected to be conservative estimates of sustainable commercial exploitation of marine fishery resources. The project will also include data collection (oceanographic and fisheries) that complements other programs operating in the marine environment, particularly those currently funded by the European Union (fisheries), USAID, IUCN and WWF (coastal zone management).

Strategic Partnership for Sustainable Fisheries Management in the LMEs of Sub-Saharan Africa: The 5 Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) of Sub-Saharan Africa are being threatened on two fronts: from the destruction of critical habitats that provides spawning and nursery grounds for many species of fish in the early stages of their life cycle, and over-harvesting of target fish stocks based on inadequate management of fishing effort (both local and distant fleets). In order to reverse the depletion of fisheries in the LMEs and to assist the individual coastal countries bordering these LMEs to meet the fisheries targets set by the WSSD, a ten-year Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund is being proposed. Once potential projects have been identified in a country, the World Bank and other donors would co-finance the project with the GEF. Other partners include FAO and WWF.

GEF funded projects in the Pipeline:

http://www.iwlearn.net/projects/africa.php#1

Atlantic and Indian Ocean SIDS Integrated Water Resource and Wastewater Management: This proposal aims to help African SIDS to: (a) address water-related surface and groundwater supply constraints; (b) remove barriers through development of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) mechanisms and Water Use Efficiency strategies consistent with WSSD; (c) support policy and legislative reforms as well as institutional and human resource capacity building; (d) adopt an integrated and participatory management approach; (e) adopt strategies to deal with extreme and chronic events and to consider more appropriate resource valuation and pricing policies.

Reduction of Environmental Impact from Coastal Tourism: The objective of the Project is to address the negative impacts of tourism on the coastal and marine environment in Sub-Saharan Africa, as identified by the African Process, through promoting the development of sustainable tourism policies and strategies and the implementation of pilot demonstration projects in a number of countries that participated in the African Process. The full project will be designed to engage the private sector and enhance public-private partnerships to enable formulation and implementation of appropriate national and regional policies and strategies for sustainable tourism development in coastal and marine areas, including a policy and strategy framework to guide and promote ecotourism development.

Links to GEF partners:

(Global Environment Facility (GEF) http://www.gefweb.org and its IW:LEARN project http://www.iwlearn.org/)

-U.N. Development Programme: http://www.undp.org/water/index.html

-U.N Environment Programme: http://dgef.unep.org/

-The World Bank Group: http://www.worldbank.org/