In his inaugural address, the Prime Minister of India, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, spoke about the major global developments of the twentieth century, which had had an impact both on human life and on planet earth. Citing some of these developments, he said, "These include an unprecedented growth in population and in consumption, rapidly increasing urbanisation, dramatic changes in the global economic system and the revolution in communication technology." On the brink of the twenty first century, Mr Vajpayee, pointed out, it was increasingly becoming apparent that the "process of development, including industrialisation and economic growth, have come at a huge cost to society, to the environment and to our very future."

"In some ways it is ironical that some of the achievements of the twentieth century themselves pose challenges for the twenty first century. With almost six billion people inhabiting this earth, and the global GDP approaching US $ 30 trillion, the pace of human activity is putting pressure on global life support systems." Mr Vajpayee said we were faced with the problem of the rapid depletion of non renewable natural resources, the continued destruction of life sustaining forests and illegal international trade in protected species of flora and fauna. Other environmental problems, he said, were the depletion of biological resources and global warming. According to Mr Vajpayee, "there is rapid globalisation of environmental destruction."

The prime minister felt that the problems of environmental degradation required more than the application of science and technology. They required the re-establishment of environmental ethics and values practiced traditionally. India, as a traditional society, had always believed in the sanctity of nature, with peace as the ultimate goal of all existence and activities. The quality of life globally will depend, to a very large extent, on the policies and actions the world pursues.

In the case of developed countries, global issues could best be handled by more stringent emission norms, limits on pollution and reduction in excessive consumption of natural resources. However, for developing and underdeveloped countries, the goal should be sustainable approaches, without compromising on economic development and rapid conservation of biodiversity. Mr Vajpayee felt that we should never forget that abject poverty, and all that goes with it, was the worst blight of our planet’s environment.

Many of the ministers and government delegates voiced similar views, highlighting the need for GEF to be responsive to the issues of sustainable development, while promoting activities related to the global environment.

Amongst the various workshops and panel discussions conducted during the assembly, one that attracted wide attention was the workshop on bridging global policy and local action - the role of NGOs in the GEF. The panelists included Juanita Castano, Ecuador; Taghi Farvar, Iran, Ashok Khosla, India; Simone Lovera, Netherlands; and Thomas Odiambo, Kenya. Liliana Hisas, from Argentina, was the facilitator. During the presentations by the panelists, one of them stressed the need to link livelihoods of indigenous people to environmental resource conservation initiatives through symbiotic arrangements between nature and humankind, thereby creating synergies in promoting sustainable development. It was stressed that unless the communities were concerned and involved with an explicit stake in the preservation of environmental resources, linked to the livelihoods of local communities, the present rate of destruction would not be checked.

Another perspective was that while NGOs were known for reiterating and even "nagging governments and agencies about environmental problems", they were substantially responsible for forcing the international community and individual governments to organise such initiatives as the Earth Summit and establish the GEF mechanisms. Hence, due credit needed to be given to NGO initiatives and concerns. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Khosla, President of Development Alternatives, New Delhi, expressed concern that despite international commitments by Heads of government to greatly increase funding for sustainable development, the annual budget of GEF, at around US $ 1 billion per year, fell far short of the needs of developing countries. Moreover, though delegates at the Earth Summit had recommended mechanisms for the reduction of greenhouse emissions in the developed world and the transfer of ozone friendly technologies to the South, not much had materialised in this direction. This indicated lack of commitment and in reality the GEF mechanism was not adequate to meet the agreement made at the Earth Summit. Much more needed to be done to implement the policies of developed countries to prevent further environmental degradation which threatened the very survival of mankind on this planet. He concluded that, perhaps, there was a need to reconsider the entire GEF mechanism and redefine its goals and objectives.

The GEF was established in 1991 as a result of mounting concern by various civil society actors on global environmental problems. Efforts began to formulate financing responses to address these problems. The GEF is a financial mechanism that promotes international cooperation and fosters action to protect the global environment. It gives grants and concessional funds to supplement traditional development assistance by covering the additional incremental cost of projects addressing global environmental objectives. The grants and concessional funds are provided to achieve global environmental benefits in four focal areas: biodiversity preservation, preventing or mitigating climate change, protection of international waters and prevention of ozone layer depletion. Land degradation issues, primarily desertification and deforestation as they relate to these four areas, are also addressed. The GEF currently operates the financial mechanisms for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). GEF projects are managed by three implementing agencies viz, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank.

Countries eligible for GEF funds are those eligible for receiving financial assistance from either UNFCCC and/or CBD. If they are eligible to borrow from the World Bank or receive technical assistance grants from UNDP through a Country Programme, GEF projects must be country driven, have participation of local communities and, where necessary or appropriate, involve NGOs in project implementation.

So far, the GEF has programmed US $ 1.9 billion in grant funding to more than 500 projects in 119 countries, while leveraging another US $ 5 billion in co-financing.