Belarus is one of the leaders in natural resource management in the post-Soviet space. This opinion was expressed to journalists by the Deputy Permanent Representative of the UNDP in Belarus, Ekaterina Paniklova, during an extended seminar of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
Belarus is one of the leaders in natural resource management in the post-Soviet space. This opinion was expressed to journalists by the Deputy Permanent Representative of the UNDP in Belarus, Ekaterina Paniklova, during an extended seminar of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
"The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection and the Government of Belarus demonstrate a strong commitment to sustainable development goals. All programmes and projects that we undertake together receive high praise. Belarus is one of the leaders in natural resource management in the post-Soviet space. And it is good that representatives from other countries have come to the seminar to see this for themselves," emphasized Ekaterina Paniklova.
William Ehlers, Head of the International Department of the GEF Secretariat, noted that Belarus effectively uses the allocated funds. "Over 20 years of cooperation, we have allocated approximately $45 million for a wide range of projects, from the use of renewable energy sources to chemical waste management. And all of them have been successfully implemented," he stated.
Iya Malkina, First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus, stressed that Belarus has established and is systematically improving the relevant institutional and organisational frameworks for sustainable development. "We are implementing in practice the National Strategy for Sustainable Development, created taking into account 'Agenda 21' and the country's main forecast documents. Its core is the comprehensive integration of economic, social, and environmental components. At the same time, ecology is a goal-setting component for us in economic development," she emphasised.
The First Deputy Minister noted that in the environmental protection sphere, more than 10 strategies and programmes have been developed and are currently functioning at the legislative level, the main purpose of which is to ensure the comprehensive and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems while building the country's economic, social, and environmental sustainability.
A GEF expanded constituency workshop is being held in Minsk, with representatives from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Switzerland, and Russia participating. Representatives of the GEF Secretariat, international organizations that are GEF implementing agencies (UNDP, UNIDO, UNEP, FAO, WB), and GEF convention secretariats are also taking part. The workshop aims to inform GEF national coordinators, convention coordinators, and other stakeholders about GEF strategies, priorities, rules, and procedures. One of the main issues being discussed in Minsk is the GEF's new work directions until 2020.
The GEF is the largest source of funding for projects aimed at improving the state of the global environment: during this time, it has allocated $9.2 billion from its own funds and attracted over $40 billion in co-financing. These funds have been used to implement 2.7 thousand projects in more than 165 developing and transition economy countries. The Fund was established in 1991.