Remarks: Monika Stankiewicz at the Third Meeting of the GEF-8 Replenishment

Download the full speech here.

Good day everyone.

I appreciate the opportunity to listen to the discussion here today, and to give you some perspectives as we anticipate the needs of the Minamata Convention in GEF-8.

We have kept our parties informed about your work towards GEF-8, which will for our parties cover an intensive period of implementation of the Convention. They have in turn made their views and needs available to the GEF secretariat and to you.

We are very pleased to see that replenishment participants have recognized these needs by signaling a high level of ambition for GEF-8, and that the overall funding scenarios could be considered to be in line with Convention needs. Ensuring the needed support for Convention implementation per COP guidance is of course our priority.

We have been inspired by the notion of systems approaches and integration. On our end, the secretariat is working with parties, other MEAs and scientists so we call fully realize the linkages between the work of the Minamata Convention and action in other areas – biodiversity, climate protection, and restoration of lands.

I believe that we all want programmes, whatever their focus, to maximize co-benefits in their design. To this end, we are ready to contribute to the collective efforts to further advance the recognition of the clear co-benefits that both flow from chemicals and waste action and can be sought across other focal areas and programmes to advance the implementation of legally binding obligations of our Convention.

In closing, let me express my appreciation to the GEF secretariat for engaging with us in the run up to this meeting, while this a busy time for you, Carlos Manuel, and your staff.

I am looking forward to a successful finalization of the replenishment, and I hope to engage fully with program managers, implementing agencies, and all partners as the GEF-8 programmes are designed, to make mercury history.

Thank you.