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'The
GEF in context'
'Establishing the Global Environment
Facility'
In a world of realpolitik the assumption that states signing
ever more demanding treaties could solve global environmental
problems becomes 'inadequate and politically naive', (Paterson,
1995). Treaties and Conventions facing crises of implementation
require financial as well as political support if they are
to approach the desired impact. GEF therefore inspired new
hopes in some environmental and diplomatic circles because
unlike other global environmental initiatives, had the powerful
World Bank behind it and billions of dollars of real money
to spend. But for reasons explored further below, the same
facts also invited pessimism and mistrust.The GEF was initially
created by Bank staff and a few officials in Western European
government ministries as a green window of the
Bank, intended to finance projects supportive of the United
Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Framework
Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). These major UN Conventions
were due to be signed by governments around the Rio Earth
Summit in 1992, having been negotiated in response to intense
environmental pressure on especially Northern governments.
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