Global Fund for Coral Reefs' Executive Board Approves Over $10 Million USD for Reef Conservation

The Executive Board of the Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR) issued two decisions following the November Board meeting totalling more than $10 million USD in new disbursements for coral reef conservation.  

The outcomes of the fourth Executive Board meeting resulted in the approval of the Fund’s programme for the Philippines, ‘Mamuhunan sa mga Marine Protected Areas’ (Responsible Investment in Marine Protected Areas). At the heart of the Coral Triangle, the Philippines supports extraordinary levels of biodiversity, including hundreds of species of corals, sea turtles, sharks and more than 2,000 species of fish. 

The Philippine programme, led by Blue Finance as the Convening Agent and in collaboration with Department of Environment and Natural Resources and local Governments, focuses on catalyzing the blended finance approach of the GFCR to improve the management and financial sustainability of three high-biodiversity Marine Protected Area (MPA) networks: the Verde Island Passage MPA Network, the Calamian Island MPA Network, and the  Tañon Strait Protected Seascape. The three networks include 80 MPAs with more than 30,000 hectares of coral reefs. 

As a second decision, the Fund’s Executive Board approved the GFCR Blue Bridge, a service provided by GFCR partner United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) that deploys grant capital in the form of concessional finance instruments (e.g., concessional loans, guarantees) and financial technical assistance when needed. The GFCR Blue Bridge will support Convening Agents of GFCR programmes to achieve transformative changes by assisting early-stage reef-positive businesses with concessional instruments. By enabling development and growth of reef-positive business models and establishing financial track-records, the GFCR Blue Bridge will catalyze private sector investment for scaling and replication of reef-positive solutions developed by local entrepreneurs. 

The initiatives contribute to the growing global portfolio of reef-positive initiatives that support sustainable coral conservation and local community resilience. 

Read more about the newly issued decisions here.