Impact Evaluation of GEF Support to Protected Areas and Protected Area Systems - Highlights

Abstract

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has been the major source of financial and technical support for countries seeking to conserve their biodiversity and use their biological resources in a sustain- able manner. Since 1991, the GEF has, in collaboration with its Implementing Agencies—notably the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank—provided $4.8 billion in grants and mobilized an additional $17.9 billion in cofinancing from public, multilateral, and private sources to 1,167 projects sup- porting countries in biodiversity conservation initiatives1 . These investments have largely supported interventions in nonmarine protected areas (PAs), PA systems, and adjacent landscapes.