The last sprint toward 2030, the GEF-9 cycle will implementing the agenda for the world’s family of funds for the environment.

The Forestry Division honoured GEF among 24 distinguished nominees at the FAO Global Technical Recognition Ceremony, held on 15 October 2025 at FAO headquarters in Rome.

The United Nations (UN) has named the GEF, IUCN, FAO, and UNEP supported initiative as one of the four new World Restoration Flagships under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Recognizing global efforts to heal degraded ecosystems, boost community incomes and support food security, the announcement was made during a high-level side event at the World Food Forum in Rome, ahead of World Food Day.

When people in Gulrez, a small village in eastern Tajikistan, feel unwell, they don’t always travel to the nearest town for medical care. Instead, they often turn to Dzhamolov Mahmadali, a local healer in their community, who offers natural treatment using plants from the surrounding mountains.

Stretching from Bhutan to Papua New Guinea, the Indo-Malaya forest biome harbors one of the last major primary forest areas in the world, hosting more than 5,000 threatened species. To maintain the integrity of these primary forests, so they can deliver biodiversity, climate, and livelihood benefits, the Southeast Asia and the Pacific Forests Integrated Program was launched.

Latin America and the Caribbean are home to some of the planet’s greatest biodiversity, but it is decreasing worldwide due to unsustainable human activity and changes in climate. Recognizing the importance of biodiversity, particularly within agrifood systems, FAO and GEF work with partners to bolster conservation efforts throughout Latin America. Here are three GEF-funded, FAO projects conserving and restoring ecosystems across Brazil, Chile and Venezuela.

Bees play a vital role as pollinators across a wide range of ecosystems, including forest landscapes and food crops worldwide. Nearly 90 percent of wild flowering plants depend on bees and other pollinators to sprout future generations, and 75 percent of the world’s food crops depend on it in part. By pollinating both wild and cultivated plants, bees and other pollinators play an important role in maintaining ecosystem services and biodiversity, while also supporting global food security and nutrition.

As wildfires escalate in Namibia’s Kavango East Region, one woman’s dedication is helping to protect forests, livelihoods and future generations.

“When I was younger, forest fires were rare,” says Benita Makena Kaghuvi, seated under a tall false mopane tree in Cakuma village. “...

Seagrass meadows are one of the planet's most valuable ecosystems, providing refuge, food, and breeding grounds for thousands of marine species while also storing up to 18% of the world's ocean carbon. A FAO-GEF project in Venezuela aims to reduce the threats of invasive species in seagrass ecosystems.

“Onboard observers enable you to know what’s happening in a fishery and what the impact on the ecosystem is going to be.” Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the project promotes responsible deep-sea fisheries management and biodiversity conservation in the high seas.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has helped 22 countries unlock $68 million in financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to address biodiversity loss, groundwater management,  climate change, land degradation, and pollution.

As the International Community comes together for “The Triple COPs” this year to take stock of the progress and devise the next steps to arrest global warming to 1.5 degrees, we must prioritize making our agrifood systems part of the solution to realize the targets of the on-going “Decade of Action” and unlock lasting benefits for the environment and for the future of food.