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The first GEF Knowledge Exchange for Policymakers was launched in Costa Rica this week. Ministers and representatives from Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Kenya, Senegal, and Zimbabwe saw first-hand how Costa Rica has effectively leveraged GEF resources, partnerships, and policies to transform the country’s ecosystems while improving lives of local communities.

As the world is preparing to take stock of progress made to end pollution at the Seventh Assembly of the Global Environment Facility, we are reminded of the critical role we have in promoting environmental health and healthy living.

Fifteen countries from across the Global South have united in the fight for a cleaner environment, with the approval of the largest global investment in tackling plastic pollution to date. With funding from the Global Environment Facility, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, India, Jordan, Laos, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, and Senegal will collaborate to transition towards a circular economy for plastics under the $107 million program targeting single-use plastic packaging in the food and beverage industry.

To build a more climate-resilient world we need to learn from the experiences of diverse countries – what has worked, what has not, and what should be tried in new locations. This is especially true for developing countries with limited means to adapt to changes in weather, water, and storm patterns.

The governments of Senegal, Thailand, and Uruguay have united to reduce the use of dental amalgam, launching a joint $13 million project to fight back against harmful dental waste.  Designed to treat tooth decay, dental amalgam, a combination of mercury and silver-based alloys, is a material used by dentists to fill cavities. 

This publication provides an overview of initiatives under the GEF Small Grants Programme's (SGP) climate change portfolio which fall under the following thematic areas:

In Soussane, Senegal, children are taught to protect the environment alongside reading, writing, and arithmetic.  The introduction of nature to the curriculum at L’école de Soussane is only one of the significant changes to stem from the UN Development Programme project Participatory Conservation of Biodiversity and Low Carbon Development of Pilot Ecovillages at the Vicinity of Protected Areas in Senegal.