International Environment

The Global Environment Facility was established in 1991 to help address climate change, threats to biodiversity, and other environmental problems. The facility is funded by the United States and other countries and provides funds for projects in developing nations to help protect the global environment. This report provides information on the facility's funding and activities.

GAO noted that: (1) from FY 1995 through FY 1998, 35 nations committed to contribute, or pledged, a total of about $2 billion to the Global Environment Facility trust fund; (2) the United States and two other nations accounted for the majority of these pledges; (3) projects are selected through a multistage review and approval process, which includes technical, environmental, and other considerations; (4) nations and other applicants submit project concepts, which are developed into detailed project proposals if they meet the Facility's eligibility criteria; (5) these criteria require, among other things, that a project be from a developing country and that funds from the Facility be used only for new activities; (6) the project proposals are then reviewed for technical appropriateness, financial feasibility, environmental benefits, and other considerations that reflect the Facility's policy goals; (7) during these reviews, representatives of contributing nations and Facility-appointed scientific and technical specialists review and comment on the proposals; (8) according to Department of the Treasury officials, the Facility ultimately selects projects through negotiations and consensus; (9) the Facility allocated a total of $1.2 billion to projects for FY 1995 through FY 1998; (10) these funds went to projects in its four priority areas; (11) the remaining $44 million went to projects addressing two or more of these priority areas; (12) in coordination with the three international agencies that help implement its projects, the Facility has established an approach for project oversight and evaluation; (13) this approach includes both strategic-level reviews, which examine such issues as the Facility's effectiveness in providing resources to address global environmental problems and the Facility's relationship with recipient nations, and project-level reviews, which examine the implementation and the results of individual projects in greater detail; (14) these reviews have found both strengths and weaknesses; (15) in some cases, the Facility's projects have encouraged the broader adoption of environmentally sound technologies by recipient countries; and (16) some projects appear dependent on funds from the Facility and might not meet the expectation that they be self-sustaining after their funding ends.