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RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1575

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SUVA 000463 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
BANGKOK FOR REO AND USAID 
 
COMMERCE FOR NOAA 
 
MANILA FOR ADB REP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EFIN EAID WS XV GEF
SUBJECT: GEF CEO EXPOUNDS 100 MILLION USD PACIFIC ALLIANCE FOR 
SUSTAINABILITY 
 
REF: SUVA 245 (NOTAL) 
 
SUVA 00000463  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: GEF CEO Monique Barbut laid out her vision for the GEF 
Pacific Alliance for Sustainability (GEF-PAS) on September 10 at a 
one-day event for GEF focal points in advance of the annual SPREP 
meeting in Apia.  Barbut explained that GEF-PAS, a country-driven 
sub-regional program, could provide as much as USD 100 million to 
Pacific island countries over the next three years but only if they 
act quickly.  On September 24, the World Bank, which has been 
charged with helping countries to formulate a single GEF-PAS 
submission to the April meeting of the GEF Council, circulated a 
document laying out next steps.  This document, which reflects a 
timetable developed at the Apia meeting, requires every Pacific 
island country to prepare a prioritized wish list of projects by 
October 15.  Countries and implementing agencies are deeply 
concerned that such short deadlines could result in this 
unprecedented opportunity being lost.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. Global Environment Facility (GEF) CEO Monique Barbut elaborated 
on her vision for the future of GEF in the Pacific in Apia, Samoa, 
on September 10 at a meeting with environmental officials and GEF 
focal points from across the region, who were in town for the annual 
Pacific Regional Environmental Organization (SPREP) meeting 
(septel).  The event was attended by members of the U.S. delegation 
to the SPREP meeting.  Expanding on the announcement of the GEF 
Pacific Alliance for Sustainability (GEF-PAS) that she made at her 
meeting with Pacific leaders in Washington in May, Barbut identified 
three objectives for the initiative: providing "on the ground 
solutions" for adapting to the impacts of a changing environment, 
increasing resources available to countries, and putting national 
governments in the driver's seat. 
 
¶3. Barbut told participants that the first objective of providing 
"on the ground solutions" will be achieved by replacing the existing 
patchwork of small, isolated projects with a more comprehensive and 
programmatic approach.  The second objective, increasing resources, 
has been the most commented upon aspect of GEF-PAS.  The initiative 
holds out the promise of making as much as USD 100 million available 
to Pacific island countries over the next three years.  Although not 
all of this is new money, it represents a potential dramatic 
increase over historical GEF funding, which totals only USD 86 
million over the past fifteen years.  Finally, GEF-PAS will be built 
around national priorities and will diminish the role of regional 
organizations in developing project proposals.  In keeping with the 
central role of national governments, it will expand eligibility for 
GEF small grants from NGOs only to include Pacific island 
governments as well.  Barbut held up the Micronesia Challenge and 
Coral Triangle Initiative as examples of regional undertakings that 
embody a broad programmatic approach as well as multi-sectoral and 
multinational partnerships, that have been assigned high priority by 
national governments, and that can, therefore, benefit from the 
greater availability of GEF funding that GEF-PAS will provide. 
 
¶4. Meeting participants were asked to bring to Apia indicative lists 
of national priorities.  After listening to the country 
presentations, Barbut identified land management, biodiversity 
conservation, climate change mitigation, food security, and climate 
adaptation as dominant national concerns.  She also acknowledged the 
broad support for a submitted but not yet approved regional project, 
"Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change" (PACC).  She cautioned, 
however, that neither this project nor any other project in the GEF 
pipeline would be approved outside the GEF-PAS framework.  Even 
fully developed project proposals like PACC and Samoa and Fiji's 
biodiversity projects would have to be recast as GEF-PAS submissions 
and reflected in national priorities.  (Comment: In this context, 
the fate of the regional "Integrated Water Resources and Wastewater 
Management" (IWRM) project (reftel) and other regional and national 
initiatives that do not seem to correspond closely to stated 
national priorities is uncertain.  End Comment.) 
 
¶5. In response to a question, Barbut clarified that GEF-PAS did not 
include any change in the eligibility of territories, which cannot 
receive GEF support.  Nevertheless, she encouraged countries to 
 
SUVA 00000463  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
consider incorporating participation by territories into regional 
elements of GEF project proposals, since doing so would strengthen 
regional partnerships and promote synergies.  (Comment: 
Participation of territories in GEF projects supporting regional 
initiatives could also be a source of co-financing.  Some U.S. 
expenditures in Guam and the CNMI might, for example, count toward 
co-financing requirements for a GEF project to support Micronesia 
Challenge-related activities.  End Comment.) 
 
¶6. Barbout's determination to submit GEF-PAS to the GEF Council for 
approval in April implies a very tight timeline for countries and 
implementing agencies, which must now scramble to identify national 
priorities and prepare project descriptions.  The World Bank has 
accepted the task of assisting countries in this effort and of 
compiling national submissions into a single program document for 
the GEF Council. 
 
¶7. On September 24, the Bank circulated a document outlining next 
steps and providing a written version of the timeline laid out in 
Apia.  It has asked GEF eligible countries to provide it with 
nationally coordinated lists of prioritized projects and preferred 
implementing partners by October 15. In addition, the Bank will 
consult with regional and GEF agencies, in coordination with the 
Pacific Island Forum Secretariat and SPREP's new GEF advisor, over 
the next few weeks and will form a GEF-PAS Working Group to 
facilitate national participation. 
 
¶8. After receiving country submissions, the Bank will compile, with 
the GEF-PAS Working Group, a synthesis of priorities, which will be 
reviewed with countries on the margins of the Asian Development 
Bank's Constituency Meeting in Manila, October 24-25.  Countries 
will then work with implementing agencies to complete Project 
Identification Forms (PIFs)--short 4-5 page documents outlining the 
project--by mid-December.  The Bank proposes a regional follow-up 
meeting in December, perhaps on the margins of the Bali climate 
meeting, although some Apia meeting participants expressed concern 
that the press of business in Bali might make this impractical.  By 
the end of January, 2008, finalized PIFs are due to the Bank, which 
will provide a draft umbrella GEF-PAS submission for approval by 
countries and implementing agencies.  The Working Group will then 
finalize the documents for submission to the GEF Secretariat by the 
end of February. 
 
¶9. A number of countries expressed concern at the short deadlines, 
particularly the October 15 initial submission, and worried that 
this unprecedented opportunity could be lost if they were unable to 
act quickly enough.  In addition to country concerns, the UNDP 
representative at the Apia meeting noted that implementing agencies 
had their own review and approval processes that would slow and 
complicate the formulation of a final submission.  In response to 
these concerns four Bank-engaged consultants will visit GEF-PAS 
countries over the next few weeks to assist in the preparation of 
national submissions.  According to the Bank document, most 
countries have already conducted limited internal consultations to 
identify and rank proposed projects.  Consequently, the consultants 
will spend 3-4 days in each country to help complete the required 
internal consultations.  The Bank document indicates that Samoa is 
alone among GEF-PAS countries in having already conducted 
appropriate consultations, and therefore, requires less assistance 
with its submission that other countries.  According to the Bank, 
three countries, PNG, FSM and East Timor have yet to conduct 
appropriate consultations and will require "substantial 
assistance." 
 
¶10. The Samoan representative to the GEF event and subsequent SPREP 
meeting, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment CEO Tu'u'u 
Taule'alo emphasized the importance of every country participating 
fully in the process.  In the SPREP meeting and in a subsequent 
conversation with the Suva-based Pacific Regional Environmental 
Officer (REO), Tu'u'u' fretted that the success of the initiative 
depended on each country making a timely, high quality submission. 
Providing the Council with a list of indicative place-holder 
priorities from countries that do not move quickly enough, as 
 
SUVA 00000463  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
proposed by the World Bank representative in Apia, jeopardizes the 
whole enterprise, he said.  Calling SPREP's offer to respond to 
requests for assistance "inadequate," Tu'u'u lamented SPREP's 
failure to demonstrate leadership and initiative by proactively 
reaching out to countries.  In a separate conversation with the REO, 
an experienced SPREP program officer complained that Secretariat 
staff has gotten no guidance or direction on how to engage countries 
in the GEF-PAS effort. 
 
¶11. Comment/Recommendation: Countries are under the gun to clearly 
articulate their national priorities and to participate effectively 
in the evolving World Bank-led process to meld them into a single 
submission.  The Forum Secretariat, SPREP, and other regional 
organizations have the area knowledge and subject matter expertise 
to assist the World Bank in this process and to facilitate national 
participation by Pacific island governments.  The Bank's decision to 
enlist the Forum and SPREP is a positive development but a more 
active mode of engagement by the regional organizations, 
particularly by SPREP, is required.  SPREP's passivity may be 
explained in part by a desire not to be seen as intruding on the 
prerogatives of national governments in the country-driven GEF-PAS 
process.  Nevertheless, SPREP's active engagement with island 
governments and with the World Bank is needed to help ensure full 
and effective participation in the development of this initiative. 
REO recommends that the U.S. encourage the Secretariat to step up to 
the plate.  End Comment/Recommendation. 
 
Dinger