Record $4.43b pledged for global environment

A total of 30 donor countries pledged US$4.43 billion Wednesday for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to support developing countries over the next four years to prevent degradation of the global environment, said a press release issued Thursday.  Promised in Geneva, Switzerland, the funding will support projects in more than 140 countries to tackle a broad range of threats to the global environment, including climate change, deforestation, land degradation, extinction of species, toxic chemicals and wastes, and threats to oceans and freshwater resources.     — BSS