- Have a regional or global approach involving several countries;
- Build on IUCN’s knowledge products and recommendations, both at the design and implementation stages;
- Focus on activities that increase awareness of ecosystem management and restoration among stakeholders and promote sustainable nature-based governance and management;
- Build on national priorities (policies, commitments to international conventions, strategic plans and national budgets) but also help create global environmental benefits;
- Collaborate with other agencies and donors to add value to proposed activities and contribute funds;
- Take advantage of government investments in conservation and sustainable development to meet co-financing required by the GEF and ensure sustainability and resilience of these investments;
- Cover several focal areas simultaneously to enhance biodiversity conservation through nature-based solutions;
- Address systematically cross-cutting issues, in particular
- Gender equality: Promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment is integral to IUCN’s mission. Gender considerations are mainstreamed in programmes and projects through a comprehensive set of guidelines.
- The rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities to secure their livelihoods and maintain their cultural identity.
- Strong representation of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Non-Governmental organisations (NGOs): IUCN’s membership is truly diverse, representing both governmental and non-governmental organisations. This key strength of IUCN is reflected in its field work and will be harnessed in GEF investments. IUCN seeks to broaden the opportunities for trusted CSOs and NGOs to participate in project implementation as these organisations are often better connected at the ground level and, when empowered, better able to address issues of biodiversity and livelihood enhancement.
IUCN priorities for the GEF-IUCN partnership
In submitting funding requests to the Global Environment Facility, the IUCN Secretariat aims to prioritise concepts and projects that:
Trends in species vulnerability and extinction, mitigation of threats to significant biodiversity (global, regional and local); prevention of illegal wildlife trade
Sustainability and resilience of protected areas, application of standards for management effectiveness
Ecosystem management and restoration on land and sea (including coral reefs)
Management and control of Invasive Alien Species
Sustainable use of biodiversity (including implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit sharing in relation to genetic resources)
Conserving and enhancing carbon stocks in forests and other ecosystems
Climate-smart agriculture and other forms of low-carbon land use
Water governance in transboundary settings and economic growth corridors
Sustainable fisheries and coastal management initiatives
Strategies addressing threats to biodiversity and ecosystems in areas beyond national jurisdiction
Restoring and enhancing ecosystem services in forests and rangelands
Appropriate management of land resources and sustainable agro-ecosystem practices
Developing national and sub-regional desertification action programmes and setting targets for Land Degradation Neutrality
Monitoring and assessment of land degradation, restoration and sustainable land management
Strengthening governance for sustainable and equitable management of land-based resources
Information sharing and partnership building to identify,
raise awareness of, and prevent pollution from industrial chemicals
(Least Developed Countries Fund & Special Climate Change Fund)
Ecosystem resilience through adaptive management
Adaptive capacity and resilience of livelihoods through sustainable use of natural resources
Maintenance of forest ecosystem services to improve the resilience of forests to climate change
Restoration of forest ecosystems in degraded landscapes