The Global Environment Facility (GEF) will fund nearly $27.5 million for projects on climate change, biodiversity preservation and land degradation prevention in Vietnam in the next four years, Nguyen Van Tai from the GEF said. The information was released at a two-day conference on Vietnam GEF national dialogue with the participation of over 100 representatives from ministries, donors, international organizations and research institutes in Hanoi on Oct 14. Of the total, $13.89 million will be used for climate change projects, $12.12 million for biodiversity preservation and the rest for land degradation, Tai was quoted by the state-run Vietnam Newspaper as saying Oct 15. So far Vietnam has taken part in 34 national projects and more than 28 regional and global projects that were funded by GEF with an aim to preserve natural resources and protect the environment, Tai added. Established in 1991, GEF pledged to spend $3.13 billion for developing countries in the 2006-2010 period, including $18.7 million for Vietnam. (Vietnam News Oct 15 p2, monre.gov.vn Oct 14)
