Overview
The biodiversity focal area of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established in 1992 to provide financial and technical resources for developing countries and countries with economies in transition to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity. Through its biodiversity focal area, the GEF supports interventions to improve the sustainability of protected areas and protected area systems, reduce threats to biodiversity, mainstream biodiversity into production landscapes/seascapes and sectors; and supports initiatives on biosafety and access to genetic resources and benefit sharing. As part of the Sixth Comprehensive Evaluation of the GEF (OPS6), the GEF’s Independent Evaluation Office undertook two evaluations of the biodiversity focal area— (1) an evaluation of GEF-funded projects on access and benefit sharing and the Nagoya Protocol, and (2) a formative evaluation to assess the GEF’s efforts to address illegal wildlife trade through the Global Wildlife Program.