
The Sixth Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), set up to help tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental problems, will take place from June 27-28, 2018 at the Furama International Conference Center in Da Nang, Viet Nam.
Held every four years, the GEF Assembly brings together environment ministers and other senior officials from all its 183 member countries, along with heads of UN agencies, regional development banks, civil society organizations, and business leaders to share ideas, solutions, and action needed to protect the global environment.
GEF Live: Your virtual window into the GEF Assembly
The interactive media hub GEF Live will be at the Sixth GEF Assembly in Da Nang, Viet Nam from June 26-28, 2018. GEF Live is an opportunity for Assembly participants to engage in conversation with a global online audience and share ideas and solutions to some of our planet’s most urgent environmental problems.
Download the visuals regarding the GEF Assembly
Using the online platform Connect4Climate, GEF Live will host a series of live-streamed interviews on Facebook with the prominent government, business and CSO leaders, thinkers and innovators. Twitter users can get announcements, key moments and other resources by following #GEFLive.
To get on the right path to a better, safer future we need to address the drivers of environmental degradation. We need to transform the systems that support how we live, how we eat, how we move and how we produce and consume.
GEF Live sessions are designed to amplify the messages shared in the GEF Assembly to an active and engaged online audience. Also, they provide a space for attendees and online participants alike to delve deeper into the various topics on the Assembly agenda.
GEF Live is a partnership between the GEF and the World Bank Group’s Connect4Climate global partnership program (2.7 million Facebook followers). The live interview sessions will take place at the Furama Resort Danang in Da Nang, Viet Nam, June 26-28, 2018.
All times are ICT.
Day 1: June 26
9:30-10:00 am - Inclusive Climate Action: Inequality and Climate Change
Mark Watts, Executive Director, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group
Mark Watts has served as Executive Director of C40 since 2013, during which time the organization has grown from 63 to 96 of world's greatest cities. Prior to joining C40 Mr. Watts was Director at pioneering engineering and design firm, Arup, and before that was a senior adviser to the Mayor of London, in which role the London Evening Standard described him as “the intellectual force behind Ken Livingstone’s drive to make London a leading light of the battle against global warming." He reports to C40 Chairperson and Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and C40 Board President, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
10:00-10:30 am - Can the world be powered with renewable energy or is that a dream?
Milou Beerepoot, Regional Technical Specialist, Energy and Climate Change Mitigation, UNDP
10:30-11:00 am - Natural resources: the foundation of economic opportunity and human well-being. How can we protect them?
Andrew Steer, President and CEO, World Resources Institute (WRI)
Dr. Andrew Steer is the President and CEO of the World Resources Institute, a global research organization that works in more than 50 countries. Dr. Steer joined WRI from the World Bank, where he served as Special Envoy for Climate Change from 2010 - 2012. From 2007 to 2010, he served as Director General at the UK Department of International Development (DFID) in London. In earlier years, Andrew held several senior posts at the World Bank, including Director of the Environment Department. He also has directed World Bank operations in Vietnam and Indonesia.
11:00-11:30 am - Smart Cities: what role do International Organizations play in building inclusive, resilient, and sustainable communities?
Anna Wellenstein, Director of Strategy and Operations, Social, Urban, Rural, and Resilience (SURR) Global Practice, World Bank
Anna is a key member of the World Bank’s SURR GP senior management team that sets strategy for analytics and financing in areas such as disaster risk reduction, urban renovation, and geospatial technology. She also oversees partnerships with bilateral, UN, and regional organizations. Ms. Wellenstein has led efforts to design and finance investments, facilitate policy reforms and build capacity to help developing countries reduce poverty and boost equity. Anna has been responsible for technical oversight of new projects financed by the Bank, the portfolio quality of ongoing projects, and setting sector and country strategies. Anna oversees $25 billion in lending to developing countries in over 200 projects, 325 studies and technical assistance projects.
11:30 am-12:00 pm - How can we protect the Amazon rainforest?
Rosa Lemos de Sá is the current CEO of Funbio, an innovative financial mechanism for the development of strategies that contribute to the implementation of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Brazil. Previously, she led the Andes-Amazon Initiative of the Moore Foundation between 2006 and 2008 in the United States, and worked at WWF-Brazil for 10 years, holding the position of Director Conservation between 2003 and 2006. Ms. Lemos de Sá has a Bachelor’s Degree in Wildlife Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master's Degree in Ecology at the University of Brasilia and a Ph.D. in Wildlife Conservation from the University of Florida.
1:00-1:30 pm - Food production: one of the major concerns and contributors of climate change
Nithi Nesadurai, President, Environmental Protection Society Malaysia (EPSM)
1:30-2:00 pm - Strategic mobilization of climate finance
Axel van Trotsenburg, Development Finance VP, World Bank
2:00-2:30 pm - How do we redefine growth in the 21st century?
Martin Stuchtey, Founder and Managing Partner, Systemiq
2:30-3:00 pm - How can we mobilize climate finance to protect the Pacific region?
Roshan Cooke, Regional Climate and Environment Specialist for Asia Pacific Region on Asian Peatlands, IFAD
3:00-3:30 pm - Can we achieve the SDG14 targets by 2020?
H. E. Peter Thomson, Special Envoy for the Oceans, United Nations
3:30-4:00 pm - The war on plastic pollution. What is the world doing to #BeatPlasticPollution?
Erik Solheim, Executive Director, UN Environment Program
4:00-4:30 pm - What needs to be done to address the planet’s most urgent environmental problems and achieve the SDG's
Cristiana Paşca Palmer, Executive-Secretary,
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations


5:00-5:30 pm - Gender and climate: how does climate change impact gender equality?
Bernadette P. Resurrección, Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
5:30-6:00 pm - How can the Global Environment Facility (GEF) foster innovation?
Rosina Bierbaum, Chair, GEF Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP)
Rosina Bierbaum is a Professor at the University of Michigan, with a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution, by the State University of New York. Before being the Chair of the GEF Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel, Ms. Bierbaum served on President Obama's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology and was the co-author of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change.
Day 2: June 27
12:30-1:00 pm - The power of cities to tackle climate change
Ani Dasgupta, Global Director, WRI Ross Center
1:00-1:30 pm - Inclusive and sustainable urbanization for all
Maimunah Mohd Sharif, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Habitat
1:30-2:00 pm - Growing investments for sustainable oceans
Karin Kemper, Senior Director, World Bank Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice


Michelle Bachelet served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and from 2014 to 2018, having been Executive Director of UN Women in between mandates. With an academic background in Medicine, Ms. Bachelet also served as Health Minister and was the first woman in Latin America to hold the post of Defense Minister.
3:00-3:30 pm - How is the EBRD promoting green economies and mobilizing private investment?
Sir Suma Chakrabarti, President, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
Suma Chakrabarti is the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development since 2012. Having held the position of Permanent Secretary at the British Ministry of Justice and UK’s Overseas Development Administration, Mr. Suma has extensive experience in international development economics, policy-making and implementing wider public service reform.
5:00-5:30 pm - Who will feed the world? How to make agriculture an appealing sector for the youth?
Liza Leclerc, Lead Technical Specialist, Environment and Climate Division, IFAD
Liza Leclerc joined the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) as the Lead Technical Specialist on Environment and Climate Finance in the Environment and Climate Division in November 2017. She joined IFAD from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat, in Germany, where she has been working as Team Leader. She led the political and technical work of the secretariat on the delivery of climate finance. Prior to this, she worked as a Senior Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Management Consultant for a number of International Financial Institutions and governments. Ms. Leclerc holds a Master's Degree Business Administration from Warwick University and a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Natural Resource Management from the University of Toronto and was recently a lead author of the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
5:30-6:00 pm - Opportunities in Africa: rural development and adaptation to climate change
Dr. Agnes Kalibata, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
Day 3: June 28
8:30-9:00 am - Is it too late to save the Planet?
Dominic Waughray, Head of International Institutional Agenda, World Economic Forum (WEF)
9:00-9:30 am - Circular Economy: public-private partnerships for positive change
Antonia Gawel, Head of Circular Economy Initiative, World Economic Forum



9:30-10:00 am - How can we achieve prosperity for all?
Jeremy Oppenheim, Founder and Managing Partner, SYSTEMIQ
10:00-10:30 am - SDGs and the Paris Agreement: can we achieve their goals by 2030?
Guido Schmidt-Traub, Executive Director, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN)
10:30-11:00 am - Chemicals and climate change
Christine Wellington-Moore,
Programme Advisor Montreal Protocol Unit/Chemicals Asia-Pacific Regional Centre, UNDP
Christine Wellington-Moore is Programme Advisor Montreal Protocol Unit/Chemicals Asia-Pacific Regional Centre. Previously, she began her work at UNEP in Paris overseeing GEF Methyl Bromide project execution with UNEP’s Ozone Action Programme, within the Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics in Paris. She then became a Task Manager for UNEP Division of the Global Environment Facility (DGEF) in 2004, overseeing the entire Ozone portfolio of DTIE. After approximately 6 years, at the end of 2007, Ms. Wellington-Moore moved to DC, where she broadened her focal area responsibilities to Persistent Organic Pollutants projects. In 2011, she joined the STAP Secretariat, working as a Programme Officer in charge of Chemicals & Waste and Urbanization issues.
11:00-11:30 am - The 30X30 Forests, Food and Land Challenge
Nik Sekhran, Chief Conservation Officer, WWF
12:00-12:30 pm - The GCF's two new measures to reduce global emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
Howard Bamsey, Executive Director, Green Climate Fund (GCF)
1:00-1:30 pm - Why transparency and accountability matters to save the planet?
Brice Böhmer, Program Coordinator, Climate Governance Integrity, Transparency International
2:30-3:00 pm - How can we achieve sustainability and resilience for food security?
Eric Patrick, Adaptation Specialist on Integrated Approaches, IFAD
3:00-3:30 pm - Management of chemicals and wastes for a better life
Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary, Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions


4:30-5:00 pm - The Planet is running out of time. How can we implement a circular economy today?
LI Yong, Director General, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)


About the Sixth Assembly of the Global Environment Facility
The opening plenary sessions on June 27 will cover the state of the global environment, the ambition needed to help transform the systems that support how we live, how we eat, how we move and how we produce and consume, and how the implementation of GEF-7 can contribute to the necessary systems change.
Fourteen interactive high-level roundtables will dig deeper into new themes in GEF-7 and other global environmental issues. Each roundtable will feature well-known speakers and interventions from ministers, to discuss the challenge, what needs to be done, and how the GEF and others can address the problem.
The 54th GEF Council Meeting will precede the GEF Assembly on June 24-26, and the 24th Least Developed Countries Fund/Special Climate Change Fund Council Meeting and a Civil Society Forum on June 26. There is an opportunity to visit GEF projects surrounding Da Nang on June 29. The week will also feature numerous side events and exhibitions.
Last month, close to 30 countries jointly pledged US$4.1 billion to the GEF for its new four-year investment cycle, (known as GEF-7), to better protect the future of the planet and human well-being.
“A clear majority of donors have stepped up their support for the GEF, signaling the urgency of the global environmental agenda, and trust in the GEF to help tackle the problem and achieve even greater results,” said Naoko Ishii, GEF CEO and Chairperson.
With the health of the global environment worsening, the GEF received strong support in its efforts to help safeguard the world’s forests, land, water, climate, and oceans, build green cities, protect threatened wildlife, and tackle new environmental threats like marine plastic pollution.
These issues and more will be on the agenda of the GEF Assembly.
Take a look at the full agenda here
The GEF Assembly, with all sessions open to the media, unless otherwise indicated, will include statements from current and former heads of state, expert presentations and a series of interactive roundtables on the new themes in GEF-7.
The Civil Society Forum
The Civil Society Forum will showcase experiences and projects from around the world that contribute to foster partnerships amongst the different sectors of the GEFs member countries. In addition, civil society and IPLC will have the opportunity to make specific recommendations to the GEF Assembly regarding their contributions to reversing the planets environmental degradation in view of the next GEF cycle.
Opening session
The Civil Society Forum will begin with a symbolic opening ceremony portraying the rich cultural legacy of Viet Nam to inspire participants to work in a collaborative fashion. This will be followed by a welcoming session to give an overview of the Assembly and the role of civil society in the GEF. It will aim to set the tone for the rest of the day. Participants will be greeted by Ms. Naoko Ishii (GEF CEO), Mr. Thanh (Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Government of Viet Nam), Ms. Lucy Mulenkei (Chair, Indigenous Peoples Advisory Group), Mr. Victor Kawanga (Chair, GEF CSO Network) and a representative of a Vietnamese CSO (TBC).
Successful System Change: Collective Story Harvest (Interactive Session)
The opening session will be followed by an interactive session where all attendees will participate. This interactive session will:
Showcase the real story behind successful examples of collaboration between civil society/Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC), governments and the private sector and innovative multi-stakeholder partnerships at local, national or regional levels that have contributed to system change
Focus on tools and methods and building blocks used that can be utilized by CSOs (and governments) to enable effective collaboration for systems change
Demonstrate a specific technique of collective story harvesting to unveil multiple insights hidden deeply in the experiences of individuals by focusing the listening of the participants to and will enable the collection of pre-agreed aspects or story arcs in the collaboration stories.
Around 15 storytellers will make a 1-minute pitch in plenary, before a deeper exchange in small groups a virtual harvesting of main points along pre-identified story arcs, some of which can then be used to feed into the CSO Call for Action.
The plenary will hear 2 recommendations from each group which will go into the final Civil Society Call for Action.
Program Overview (All times are in ICT)
8:00 am - Registration
9:00 am - Welcome remarks
Naoko Ishii (GEF CEO), Viet Nam Government, GEF CSO Network, Viet Nam CSO or Indigenous/Local community (TBI), Indigenous Peoples Advisory Group
9:40 am - Cham ethnic group - Quang Nam province (TBC)
10:00 am - Collective Story Harvest
12:00 pm - Introducing afternoon breakout sessions and presentation of draft Civil Society Call for Action
12:30 pm - Lunch
1:30 pm:
Breakout session 1: Effective collaboration for Systems Change
Breakout session 2: Influencing Change: the power of Advocacy and Innovative Environmental Action
Breakout session 3: Pathways for inclusive GEF Projects and Programs: Operationalizing GEFs Stakeholder Engagement and Gender-responsive Approach in GEF-7
Breakout session 4: Views of the Civil Society Network on Effective Collaboration for Sustainable Transformation
4:00 pm - Panel Discussion with breakout sessions moderators - Feedback and recommendations and fine tuning of the Civil Society Call for Action to be presented to 6th GEF Assembly
5:30 pm - Closing Remarks: GEF Secretariat, IPAG, CSO Network, Local CSO/IP
6:00 pm - SGPs 25th anniversary reception
Civil Society Call for Action
The Civil Society Call for Action will be an action-oriented message resulting from the Civil Society Forum and informed by the recommendations and conclusions of the breakout groups and the interactive session. The Civil Society Call for Action will be drafted and consulted in the 2 months prior to the Forum with inputs from civil society and indigenous peoples and local communities who are members of the CSO Network, other CSOs, CBOs and IPLC of the GEF SGP and other GEF projects, IPAG, and other civil society participants attending the Assembly.
The CSO Network will lead the preparation of the Civil Society Call for Action.
SGP Celebratory Event
The event will take place at the Oceans Room of the Furama Hotel. It will start with a short video and interactive high-level panel, with each speaker making a 3- minute introduction followed by discussions with the audience. No power point presentations or formal speeches will be used, to foster an open dialogue and lively interaction. Each panel member (e.g., GEF CEO, Government Rep, CSO/IP rep, etc.) will briefly talk about the importance of local communities as stewards of the global environment and highlight the role of SGP over the past 25 years.
The panel will be followed by an anniversary book launch, which will be titled 25 Years: Small Grants, Big Impacts. The reception will be concluded with a cultural performance.
About the Global Environment Facility (GEF)
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to help tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental problems. Since then, the GEF has provided over $20 billion in grants and mobilized an additional $88 billion in financing for more than 4000 projects in 170 countries. Today, the GEF is an international partnership of 183 countries, international institutions, civil society organizations, and the private sector that addresses global environmental issues.
The GEF is…
A unique partnership of 18 agencies — including United Nations agencies, multilateral development banks, national entities, and international NGOs — working with 183 countries to address the world’s most challenging environmental issues. The GEF has a vast network of civil society organizations which work closely with the private sector around the world and receives continuous inputs from an independent evaluation office and a world-class scientific panel.
A financial mechanism for five major international environmental conventions: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
An innovator and catalyst that supports multi-stakeholder alliances to preserve threatened ecosystems on land and in the oceans build greener cities, boost food security and promote clean energy for a more prosperous, climate-resilient world; leveraging $5.2 in additional financing for every $1 invested.
Logos available for download:
GEF: https://assembly.thegef.org/assembly/logo
Connect4Climate: https://www.connect4climate.org/about/branding-and-logos