The GEF's mandate initiated at Rio 1992 to act as a financial mechanism of the CBD, the UNFCCC, and the UNCCD, and as a major source of funding for other areas, including the Montreal Protocol, International Waters, the Stockholm Convention on POPs, and the strategy for SFM/REDD, together as the manager of the LDCF, the SCCF, and the Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund, commits to commits to sound management of world's largest public fund for environment; swift action to implement Rio directives; increased recipient country access to funds and involvement of women, indigenous peoples through the following twelve commitments.

The Global Environment Facility has issued a 12-point Statement of Commitments, pledging to swiftly implement the guidance of the conference and to widen global access to GEF funds. The statement lays out 12 commitments relating to the GEF's core mission as reflected in the decisions emerging from the UNCSD and cover a range of issues, from sound management of donations from the GEF's 182 member nations to continued streamlining of the project cycle and steps to expand access to GEF funds by regional, national and international institutions. The GEF was a pilot program for the 1992 Earth Summit and got its core mission as a result of that conference, specifically, that the GEF would act as a financial mechanism of the three major environmental conventions to emerge from that gathering: the CBD, the UNFCCC, and the UNCCD. The GEF's portfolio has broadened to include issues ranging from forest protection and preservation of the ozone layer to persistent organic pollutants and international waters. These commitments provide the GEF, its partner institutions, and its member nations, with a clear road map to the organization's priorities and goals.

Global Environment Facility (GEF)