The Cook Islands is the chair for the Pacific Region’s Project Steering Committee (PSC), which has the largest portion of the GEF ISLAND fund. GEF ISLANDS is the largest singular project by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), with an allocation of under US$20 million for the 14 Pacific countries including the Cook Islands. 33 countries are a part of this project – 14 from the Pacific Ocean, 12 from the Caribbean Ocean, 4 from the Indian Ocean and three from the Atlantic Ocean.
National Environment Service director Halatoa Fua attended the GEF ISLANDS forum in Geneva on the back of the BRS Convention, which was attended my most of the 33 islands under the GEF ISLANDS project.
Halatoa Fua says ‘The GEF ISLANDS gave international perspective to the Pacific delegates on what successful implementation might look like for countries in the Caribbean, Indian and Atlantic oceans.
