| Project title | Global Coordination Project for the GEF-8 Clean and Healthy Ocean Integrated Program |
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| GEF ID | # 11353 |
| GEF Financing | USD 12,452,292 |
| Duration | 6 years |
| Implementing Agencies |
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| Executing Partners |
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| Project objective | To enhance the effectiveness of the CHO-IP in addressing nutrient pollution and marine hypoxia by curbing coastal pollution from agriculture, industrial, and municipal sources through gender-responsive policy and regulatory measures, infrastructure investments, nature-based solutions and inclusive awareness-raising initiatives globally, regionally and in participating countries, thereby delivering increased global environmental benefits. |
Project overview:
Countries across the CHOIP face similar challenges such as rising nutrient loads, fragmented data, uneven monitoring capacity, and limited cross-sector coordination. These gaps reduce the effectiveness of national actions and the potential to scale solutions across shared rivers, coasts, and LMEs.
The GCP strengthens coherence and impact across CHO-IP by:
Improving the evidence base and awareness through scientific support and communication on nutrient pollution and marine hypoxia.
Strengthening policy, regulatory and investment frameworks by guiding countries on aligned policies and financing options for nutrient reduction.
Supporting best practices and innovative solutions through technical guidance, tools and communities of practice that help refine and scale effective measures.
Ensuring knowledge management and learning, communication, gender mainstreaming, stakeholder engagement, and coordinated monitoring and evaluation across the Program.
Expected results (program-level contribution)
The GCP enables and amplifies the results of 13 country projects across 11 LMEs through:
Improved coordination across 13 country projects and 11 LMEs
Global knowledge platforms that inform policy and investment decisions
Stronger capacity for nutrient-reduction planning and monitoring
A harmonized monitoring and evaluation framework tracking pollution and ecosystem health
Greater visibility and stakeholder engagement across regions
Turning country action into a global effort
The GCP transforms 13 country projects into a single, coherent global program that tackles nutrient pollution and marine hypoxia from source-to-sea. Connecting work from the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Bay of Bengal and Humboldt Current, it ensures that national actions contribute to measurable regional and global impact.
Led by FAO, the GCP draws on FAO’s mandate across agriculture, water, soils and ecosystems to help countries translate science into action. FAO strengthens governance, builds technical capacity, and supports the design of investments that reduce nutrient losses while safeguarding food and water security.
From data gaps to decisions
Working with IOC-UNESCO and key technical partners, the GCP strengthens monitoring of nutrients and ocean oxygen and brings data together to help countries:
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identify hotspots of eutrophication and hypoxia;
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track the impact of policies and investments over time;
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link science to LME planning, SDG reporting and global ocean initiatives.
Bridging science, policy and finance
Through ADB, CAF and EBRD, the GCP connects science and policy with real investment opportunities. It helps countries design bankable projects that integrate nutrient-reduction and nature-based solutions and supports public and private actors in embedding pollution-reduction targets into agriculture, wastewater, industry, and coastal development.
Scaling solutions that work
The GCP promotes best management practices and nature-based solutions, including improved fertilizer and manure management, circular wastewater reuse, wetland and riparian buffers, and cleaner production. It connects practitioners through global knowledge and data platforms and communities of practice, enabling solutions proven in one region to be adapted and scaled in others.
Making impact visible and inclusive
The GCP mainstreams gender and inclusion, strengthens stakeholder engagement, and coordinates programme-wide monitoring and evaluation in partnership with IW:LEARN. By aligning data, policy and practice, it turns fragmented efforts into a shared global response to nutrient pollution and marine hypoxia.
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