New GEF Initiative Will Support UNCCD To Strengthen Drylands And Drought Resilience

AFOLABI SAHEED OLAWALE

The Global Environment Facility announced the development of a new Drylands and Drought Management Integrated Program to help countries proactively manage drought, strengthen resilience in drylands, and respond to growing risks to ecosystems, food security, water availability, livelihoods, and health.

The program will be implemented during the new GEF-9 investment cycle (2026-2030) in response to requests from parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification for the GEF to prioritize drought resilience in its programming, with an emphasis on helping countries and communities better prepare for, monitor, assess, mitigate, and respond to the cascading impacts of drought.

“Investing in healthy land and healthy people means investing in food security, climate resilience, biodiversity, water, jobs, and peace,” said the GEF Interim CEO and Chairperson, Claude Gascon. “Through this new Integrated Program, we will support countries in moving from crisis response toward proactive drought resilience.”

The Drylands and Drought Management Integrated Program has a tentative envelope of $140 million in GEF grant financing and will work closely with the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, the Drought Resilience Investment Facility, and other initiatives supporting resilience across drylands and rangelands.

As part of this broader push, the GEF is also supporting the Rangelands Flagship Initiative, a multi-partner global initiative led by Mongolia and the UNCCD to significantly increase investments for conserving, sustainably managing, and restoring rangelands, which include most of the world’s drylands and are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The GEF supports the development and coordination of the rangeland initiative through the UNCCD COP17 Legacy Project, a $3.3 million GEF investment implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature that is leveraging $8 million in co-financing from Mongolia and IUCN.

In addition, during the GEF-8 cycle (2022-2026), the GEF has approved 50 projects across its family of funds that support sustainable rangelands management and restoration and pastoralists livelihoods, with total investment of more than $300 million. These projects are in various stages of development and can complement the Rangelands Flagship Initiative to help implement successful rangelands management and restoration at scale.

More about the GEF-9 investment cycle

• With an initial $3.9 billion programming level, GEF-9 will support expanded investments in nature-positive development, drought resilience, and sustainable land management.
• Four GEF-9 Integrated Programs are strongly aligned with UNCCD objectives and are expected to invest more than $800 million in GEF grant funding. These include programs on Food Systems, Critical Forest Biomes, Blue and Green Islands, and the new Drylands and Drought Management Integrated Program.
• Under GEF-9, drought resilience will become more central, targeted, and measurable. The cycle includes a dedicated objective for the implementation of national drought plans, a drought vulnerability index in the formula to calculate resource allocation to countries, and new indicators to track improved drought resilience.
• GEF-9 will enable investments that help countries address urgent environmental priorities through a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach. Across the GEF family of funds, 20 percent of resources are expected to directly benefit Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
• The replenishment also places stronger emphasis on mobilizing private capital for environmental action. Ten percent of total GEF-9 funding is allocated to the blended finance window, with an overall target of using 25 percent of GEF resources to help mobilize private sector investment.