Special Seminar – Dr. Fonseca

Global Environment Facility, the International Multilateral Environmental Agreements Architecture, and My Experience in it.

by Dr. Gustavo Fonseca, Global Environment Facility.

Friday, December 15  |  3:30-4:30 pm  |  112 Newins-Ziegler Hall.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was created at the eve of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio to become the first financial mechanism to assist developing countries to deliver global environmental benefits in climate change mitigation and biodiversity. Since then, the environmental finance architecture has greatly expanded along with the broadening of scope of the policy landscape with the establishment of additional multilateral environmental agreements. The presentation will focus on this evolution to date.

Bio

Dr. Fonseca is the Director of Programs at the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the largest independent funding mechanism supporting the global commons, housed at the World Bank and serving 155 countries. Responsibilities include overseeing the portfolio of investments in biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation, forests and REDD+, transboundary marine and freshwater conservation, chemicals and sustainable land management. A tenured Professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil, he was the first Executive Director of Center for Applied Biodiversity before becoming the Chief Conservation and Science Officer of Conservation International. He holds a Master’s degree in Latin American Studies and a Ph.D. in Forest Managemen t and Conservation from the University of Florida. He published close to 150 publications articles and books, including 15 times in Science, four times in Nature, and twice in PNAS. He received the Oliver Austin Award of the University of Florida’s State M useum for outstanding research in the natural sciences, the Environmental Protection Award of Government of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, the Distinguished Service Recognition award from the Brazil Biodiversity Fund (Funbio), and the Golden Ark Award, an official order of the Dutch government, the highest environment award of the Netherlands. In December 2017, he will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Florida.