The international community working to protect the environment
The global environment facility: China
Case Study
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| Teacher's Notes | Student Activities |
| Introduction |
Concern for the global environment has grown dramatically over the past few decades. Expanding deserts, a damaged ozone layer, collapsing fisheries, a scarcity of fresh water, and growing levels of plant and animal extinctions do not describe the kind of planet we want to leave for future generations. The concept of intergenerational equity demands that the present generation immediately takes responsibility for what we are doing to the earth and its systems, and put in place actions that will conserve and protect the environment and all its resources for future generations. Underpinning these actions is the need for sustainable development to become the focus of all our activities that have an impact on the environment.
Sustainable development can be defined as 'Using, conserving, and enhancing the community's resources so that ecological processes on which life depends are maintained and the total quality of life, now and in the future, can be increased'. (National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development, Department of Environment, Sport and Territories, 1992). The international community has become increasingly committed to this concept and as a result created the Global Environment Facility in 1991 to address major environmental threats worldwide.
| What is the GEF? |
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a 'mechanism dedicated to promoting global environmental protection'. It was established to forge international co-operation and finance actions in an effort to address four critical threats to the global environment; biodiversity loss, climate change, ozone depletion and degradation of international waters. Projects that address the above problems and that relate to the problem of land degradation are also eligible for GEF funding.
Grants and concessional funds are available to countries to support activities that aim to protect the environment. Rather than fund projects outright, GEF covers incremental costs involved in projects that target these global threats. For example, GEF would fund the additional costs of an electricity generation project that used sustainable energy technologies (like a solar energy system) in place of a conventional coal-fired power plant. While the substitution of a solar energy system may initially be more costly in monetary terms, the ongoing benefits of substitution would occur at both a local and global level. At the local scale the community would receive electricity to meet their energy requirements, as well as avoiding the air pollutants produced when coal combustion occurs. On a global scale this helps limit the emission of greenhouse gases.
What is a convention? What is a protocol? In international relations a treaty is a written agreement between two or more states which is binding at international law. Treaties are also referred to as conventions, charters, or covenants. An example of a treaty is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. A protocol is usually a supplementary agreement to a treaty that adds to or changes provisions of the treaty, but which is subject to separate and formal acceptance by the states' parties. A protocol can be used to confirm an interpretation by the signatories of provisions of the original agreement or to implement specific obligations. Protocols are legally binding documents. Examples include the 1996 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. |
| Why do we need the GEF? |
Acting alone, countries cannot do all that is required to repair the ozone layer, reverse the degradation of international waters, address the enhanced greenhouse effect or stop plants or animals from becoming extinct. Neither can they unilaterally overcome poverty and lack of opportunity still apparent in many parts of the world. By working together, the hope is that they can.
The GEF promotes and supports global environmental conventions and protocols, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (including its Kyoto Protocol), the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (including its Montreal Protocol), and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Therefore GEF funds are being used to support programs that address the overall goals of these important international agreements.
Forty per cent of total GEF funds go to the conservation of biological diversity. Projects generally deal with one or more of four critical ecosystems and the human communities found there: 1) Arid and semi-arid zones; 2) coastal, marine and freshwater resources; 3) forests and 4) mountains. Thirty six per cent of total GEF funds go to combating global warming. These funds are used in an effort to remove barriers to energy efficiency and energy conservation, promote renewable energy forms, reduce long-term costs of low greenhouse gas emitting technologies and support the development of sustainable transport. Fourteen per cent of funds are used to protect oceans and waterways from degradation. Phasing out ozone layer depleting substances uses 6% of funds, mainly in programs in the Russian Federation and nations in Eastern Europe and central Asia.
Deforestation and degraded water resources imperil biodiversity, induce climate change and disturb hydrologic cycles. Consequently, projects that address land degradation issues are also funded.
| How does the GEF operate? |
The GEF is jointly implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank. Each organisation plays a part in determining the programs GEF funds. UNDP is responsible for providing technical assistance and helps to identify suitable projects. UNEP is responsible for the development of scientific and technical analysis, including advancing a range of suitable environmental management techniques. The World Bank oversees the management of GEF funds. The GEF Council makes the final decisions in relation to the development, adoption and evaluation of policies and programs. The Council is governed by representatives from both recipient and non-recipient countries. As of 1 October 1999, there were 166 member states in GEF.
| What role does Australia play in the GEF? |
Australia has had a long-term involvement with the GEF, including representation on GEF councils and advisory panels, and has committed over $116 million in funding since its inception. Australia, through the Government's overseas aid program, has jointly financed a variety of projects within the Asia Pacific Region. For example, the promotion of Electric Energy Efficiency Program in Thailand assists the development, manufacturing and adoption of energy efficient equipment and processes. Also, Australia and the GEF are working to protect the biological diversity of 15 island states in the South Pacific, through the funding of a variety of conservation programs.
One of the most important current projects Australia is jointly involved in (along with China and the Netherlands), is the 'Rapid Commercialisation of Renewable Energy Project' in China. Australia has committed $4.5 million over five years from 1998 to 2003. The project is acting on a 1996 report that found many renewable energy technologies were almost ready to compete on the open market with traditional energy sources. With a coordinated effort from government and the private sector, it should be possible for renewable energy alternatives to be economically attractive and accessible for both suppliers and consumers, to the extent that the Chinese economy could draw as much as 6% of its energy supplies and 8% electrical power supplies from such sources. With a current population of 1.27 billion, which is predicted to grow to 1.67 billion by 2025, China's energy requirements are enormous and will continue to grow. The potential benefits for future greenhouse gas reductions through the increasing use of non-fossil fuel energy sources are obvious.
The project will support pilot activities for five promising technologies:
- Rural electrification by solar and wind hybrids - a combination of small-scale wind and solar energy systems which generate domestic electricity and feed surplus electricity into the main grid;
- Wind farm development - the generation of electricity through a number of larger scale wind turbines located at suitable sites;
- Biogas production - the use of rotting organic material (eg. food scraps, human and animal waste) to produce methane, which is collected and combusted to produce heat for a conventional electricity generation system;
- Bagasse cogeneration - electricity generators are being located in sugar cane farming districts in southern China. The cane and leaf waste is then collected, and as with biogas, is used to generate methane;
- Solar water heaters - the use of flat plate collectors placed on the roof to produce domestic hot water.
As well as the production of energy from renewable forms, the project will result in a decrease in local air pollution, and reduce the health consequences of mining and using coal. An improvement in water quality and water conservation will be achieved as a result of using organic waste in biogas digesters rather than allowing sewage and other wastes to be disposed of in water bodies. Rather than methane from rotting garbage and sugar cane waste going into the atmosphere and contributing to global warming, it can be collected and used to generate electricity.
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