IUCN Director General delivers statement at the 8th GEF Assembly

Excellencies, distinguished delegates,

We gather at a decisive moment for people and planet. Around the world, countries are calling for support – to turn global environmental commitments into real action – to protect biodiversity, strengthen climate resilience, restore degraded lands, and safeguard the oceans and freshwater systems that sustain life. The urgency has never been greater – but we have the ability to deliver transformative change at the speed and scale required. 

The GEF partnership remains one of the strongest expressions of collective action, showing that investing in nature is investing in stability, resilience and prosperity. 

IUCN is proud to contribute science, policy expertise and field experience to this partnership – from the Red List of Threatened Species^TM, the Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas and the Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions, to our work with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and our global network of 1,600 Members and 19,000 experts. IUCN is ready to support countries around the world.

Despite the scale of the challenges, we have powerful reasons for hope. For example, in the GEF Restoration Initiative, communities across ten countries have brought over two million hectares of degraded land under improved management. Forests are returning, water flows are stabilising and livelihoods are strengthening.

We see the same hope in species conservation. Through GEF support to the Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme, management has improved across more than four million hectares of tiger habitat, contributing to population increases in several landscapes. Tens of thousands of households have gained safer livelihoods, reducing pressure on forests and easing human-wildlife conflict.

These examples, and many others, show that when the right policies and partnerships are in place, people prosper and nature rebounds.

As we look toward GEF-9, countries are clear about what they need: integrated action across climate, biodiversity, land and oceans; stronger support for the people who steward nature; and finance at scale that unlocks public and private capital while ensuring environmental integrity.

Excellencies, IUCN stands ready to deepen our collaboration with the GEF partnership to help countries deliver real, durable outcomes for people and nature.

Let us use this Assembly to reaffirm our shared purpose: a stable climate, thriving biodiversity, healthy lands and oceans, and a safer, more equitable future for all.

Thank you.