Strategic Area:                       Recovery and Sustainable Livelihoods

Alignment with strategic plan:  Environment and Sustainable Development

Project Name:                        Support for Global Environment Facility (GEF) engagement

Duration:                              2007-2008

Project Summary:
This activity encourages Somalia to engage and participate in global environmental processes through support to the Ministry of Environment. In the past, there has been little investment in the area of environment despite environmental sustainability being the basis for livelihoods for a majority of Somalis. One of the most important funds globally for providing resources for implementation of environmental projects and programmes is the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and UNDP is one of the principal implementing agencies alongside the World Bank and UNEP. The overall objective of this activity is to support Somalia’s engagement in the GEF, and subsequent access to resources to customize and implement its obligations under the environmental conventions that GEF sets out to support. The project is geared towards strengthening national capacity and implementing programmes to protect Somalia’s fragile and significantly degraded environmental resources.

For a country to gain access GEF resources it is required to adopt three key ‘multi-lateral environmental agreements’ (MEAs): the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Somalia is signatory only to UNCCD. UNDP has been assisting the Ministry of Environment to ratify the remaining two conventions, in order that it may be a full participant in the GEF. These conventions are important because they provide frameworks for developing national mechanisms for environmental and biodiversity conservation.

Expected outputs of the project are:
• Somalia fully engaged in the GEF
• Accession to the biodiversity and climate change conventions completed
• National action plans formulated for desertification, climate change and biodiversity conventions
• Renewed commitment and improved capacity for environmental conservation

Implementation and achievements:
The process of getting Somalia to participate in the GEF has been successful. This entailed consultations with the Ministry of Environment towards the nomination of a GEF Operational focal point and the communications with the GEF Secretariat that culminated in the formal invitation to Somalia to participate through the Eastern Africa constituency. Support has subsequently been sought from the GEF to provide basic support for the focal point. In addition, the process of accession to the pending conventions is underway and relevant documentation for this purpose has been provided to the Ministry. This accession will enable Somalia to access support and resources directly from the convention secretariats for baseline activities, such as the development of the National Action Plans.

In order to see through this GEF and MEA engagement process, a GEF unit within the Ministry of Environment will be supported in 2008. This unit will incorporate focal points for the three key environmental conventions, and the support will include training in MEAs, equipment and operational support, and public environmental awareness.