Canada Joins GFCR Coalition
Glasgow, 9 November 2021 – The Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR) is pleased to announce that the Government of Canada has joined the Fund’s coalition with a commitment of CAD $6 million. This new commitment was launched by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the 26th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) taking place in Glasgow.
This new announcement comes as part of Canada’s wider resilience support through nature-based solutions for Small Island Developing States and coastal developing countries. Canada recognizes that, to achieve maximum results, actions to conserve nature must closely align to efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Nowhere is this truer than in the oceans.
Canada joins a growing GFCR coalition, including the Green Climate Fund, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the governments of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, Pegasus Capital Advisors, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).
“Canada is committed to working with our global partners to tackle the climate crisis, including by supporting developing countries as they adapt to a changing climate. Our CAD $6 million contribution to the Global Fund for Coral Reefs will support international coral reef conservation and restoration, one of the keys to a cleaner future for Small Island Developing States, coastal developing countries and the world as a whole.”
– The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Coral reefs are valued at up to USD $10 trillion annually and are relied upon by an estimated 1 billion people. Although coral reefs harbour the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem globally, they are among the most threatened ecosystems on Earth. It is estimated that more than half the world’s coral reefs have been lost due to climate change, over-fishing and increasing local pressures. Coral reef decline, however, can be reversed by acting with urgency to implement proven projects at scale.
The GFCR was launched during the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA75) in September 2020 by a coalition of private foundations, Member States, UN agencies and private sector impact investors with the ambition to mobilise USD $625 million for coral reef conservation over the next 10 years. The GFCR is the first UN fund dedicated to SDG 14, ‘Life Below Water’, and the only global blended finance instrument dedicated to coral reefs.
The Fund’s blended finance approach leverages grants to unlock and de-risk private sector reef-positive investment in the blue economy. Under a guiding Theory of Change and Investment Plan, the GFCR’s Grant and Investment Window jointly sequence and layer investment to ecosystem-based solutions addressing indirect and direct drivers of degradation (e.g., overfishing, unsustainable coastal development, destructive fishing, pollution, boat anchoring, etc.). Programming has already launched in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Tanzania and The Bahamas and, by early 2022, is expected to begin in the Philippines and the Mesoamerican Reef region (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras).