UPSC Prelims 2014 Question:

With reference to 'Global Environment Facility', which of the following statements is/are correct?

Explanation:

• The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a family of funds dedicated to confronting biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and strains on land and ocean health. Over the past three decades, the GEF has provided more than $22 billion and mobilized $120 billion in co-financing for more than 5,000 national and regional projects.
  
  
• The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. It is a catalyst for action on the environment. The GEF is a unique partnership of 18 agencies — including United Nations agencies, multilateral development banks, national entities, and international NGOs — working with 183 countries to address the world’s most challenging environmental issues.
  
  
• It is a financial mechanism for five major international environmental conventions: 
  • The Minamata Convention on Mercury, 
  • The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants POPs)
  • The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD)
  • The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification UNCCD)
  • The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC).
    
    

Therefore, option (1) is the correct answer.

Subject: Environment | Environmental Organisations and Conventions