Canada supports climate action in developing countries

Da Nang (VNA) – Canada has committed aid worth over 228 million USD for fiscal years 2018–2019 through 2022–2023 to the seventh replenishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to advance climate action in developing countries.

The pledge was made by Canadian Minister of International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau at the sixth GEF Assembly which is being held in Vietnam’s Da Nang city on June 27-28.

Developing countries constantly face impacts of climate change, with women and children facing disproportionate challenges. Collaboration and partnerships between governments, global institutions, non-governmental and local organisations, as well as the private sector are key to moving forward on climate action.

Therefore, Canada is committed to these efforts to empower the most at-risk communities to better adapt and mitigate the harmful impacts of a changing climate.

Through the GEF, the country has worked with partners to tackle global environmental issues and to support sustainable development, including poverty reduction and gender equality.

The GEF is the single-largest source of funding and a catalyst for action on the environment. It funds programmes that have brought sustainable land management, benefiting smallholder farmers, provided biodiversity protection and planning for productive terrains and water bodies, and have protected river and lake basins, groundwater basins and large marine ecosystems.

Since the GEF was established in 1992, the initiatives it funded have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2,700 megatons, introduced more than 50 climate-friendly technologies, leading to energy efficiency, renewable energy generation and sustainable urban transport, brought 103 million hectares of land under sustainable land management; and protected more than 50 water basins and 23 of the planet’s 64 large marine ecosystems. -VNA