April 2012: The April issue of the Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) “Greenline” newsletter presents publications on energy efficiency, mercury management, and the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20).

The newsletter opens with an article titled “Why Rio+20 Will Succeed,” authored by Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca, Head of Natural Resources at the GEF. In an article titled “The Legacy, and the Promise, of Rio,” GEF CEO and Chairperson Monique Barbut highlights that the GEF’s history is intertwined with the outcomes from the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

Among other elements, the issue highlights a publication titled “Closing the Global Energy Efficiency Gap: The GEF Experience,” by Ming Yang, GEF Climate and Chemicals Team, which details GEF’s investments and programmes to close the global energy efficiency gap. The brief notes that energy efficiency is the second largest sub-focal area (30.8%) in terms of funding allocation within the climate change focal area, only exceeded by renewable energy. It highlights that by 30 June 2011, the GEF invested US$ 872.2 million as incremental costs in 162 energy efficiency projects in 35 countries.

The newsletter also features an article by Ibrahima Sow, GEF Climate and Chemicals Team, which: describes the challenges of mercury management and threats to health and poor communities; presents a set of pictures on mercury and small scale mining; and reviews GEF’s support for mercury management and elimination projects.

Other articles in the newsletter address: the GEF’s participation in an Expanded Constituency Workshop (ECW) for the West Africa (Sahel) Constituency, which took place in April 2012, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; gender and indigenous peoples issues mainstreming in GEF projects; and community-based adaptation (CBA) in Morocco. [GEF Greenline April 2012] [Publication: The GEF and Mercury: The Challenge] [Publication: Closing the Global Energy Efficiency Gap: The GEF Experience]