Roundtable 1: Market Mechanisms for Financing Global Environmental Conventions
Klaus Töpfer, UNEP's former Executive Director and Germany's former Minister of Environment (left), elaborated on: the
risk-sharing prospect of linking official development aid with private investment; the opportunity to increase private investment by
making developing country terms of trade more favorable through intervention by the World Trade Organization; and the ability to
make developing country markets more favorable through certification schemes.
Mohammed Valli Moosa, Eskom Chairman and Achim Steiner (right)
Mohammed Valli Moosa, Eskom Chairman (left), discussed opportunities for and obstacles to implementing market-based
mechanisms for financing environmental conventions. He suggested that market forces per se are not capable of making
environmental conventions work, and because the environment is a public good, the principle responsibility for its protection l
ies with the State. He stressed that the private sector will protect the environment when it is profitable to do so, noting the
success of transfrontier parks due to the promise of tourism-related revenue.
Co-Chairs Thomas Kolly, Switzerland (center) and Klaus Töpfer, former UNEP Executive Director
Roundtable 2: Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation
Steen Jorgensen, the World Bank, and Co-Chairs Corrado Clini, Director General , Italy 's Ministry of Environment and
Territory, and Elizabeth Thompson, Minister of Energy and Environment of Barbados
Elizabeth Thompson, Minister of Energy and Environment of Barbados (left)
Al Binger, University of the West Indies (right), underscored the vulnerability of small island developing
States (SIDS) to climate change and highlighted contributing factors, including high energy prices due to low
economies of scale, and dependence on increasingly variable weather patterns in the agricultural and tourism sectors.
Steen Jorgensen, the World Bank, outlined three issues central to Africa's climate change agenda: increasing energy production;
mitigation; and adaptation. He emphasized that Africa requires new technology and skills to increase its energy production and
investments, and that adaptation must be targeted at the local level.
Feng Gao, UNFCCC Secretariat (left), said money, technology and public policy must go hand-in-hand in combating
climate change and outlined efforts being taken in China 's energy sector to address climate change.
Morocco (left) said that when reviewing the resource allocation framework (RAF) in two years, the GEF should take
account of States' vulnerability and urged countries to honor their pledges under the Marrakesh Accords. Brazil (right)
did not favor a change in the GEF's focus toward addressing mitigation activities at the global level, arguing the focus on
action in OECD countries is correct and requires intensification.
Roundtable 3: Identifying National Priorities and Allocating Resources to Enhance Results at the Country Level
Co-Chairs Li Yong, China 's Vice Minister of Finance, and Roger Ehrhardt, Canadian International Development Agency
(lefthand photo)
Noting that the concept of the RAF is not unique to the GEF, Ramon Fernandez, Ministry of Finance of France, said it
represents a fundamental reform that will impact on the GEF's operations and to which the executing agencies will
have to adapt. Trieu Van Be, Vice Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam, outlined his country's
experience in identifying national environmental priorities, notably through a steering committee involving the
ministries of foreign affairs, finance, planning, agriculture, and natural resources and the environment.
Closing Plenary
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel presides over the closing plenary Side Event: Cape Town: A City Planning
for the Future hosted by City of Cape Town Desmond Tutu Peace Centre
Archbishop Desmond Tutu during the side event on the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre
Dan Vaughan, Executive Director, Desmond Tutu Peace Centre (right), provided an overview
of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre
Press Conference
Trevor Manuel, South Africa 's Minister of Finance (right), noted concerns raised by some delegates about:
defining an agenda for reforming the GEF; the amount and allocation of resources under GEF-4; the need for
a vulnerability index under the RAF; and adequate funding for CCD-related activities.
GEF CEO/Chair Monique Barbut: noted the importance of compromise among the members of the GEF “family”;
said that if the GEF becomes the financial mechanism for the Adaptation Fund, there may be more activity in
this area; and explained the allocation procedures for activities under the GEF focal areas.
Signing of agreement by Ministers of Environment from South Africa, Angola and Namibia on the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME)
