From before the CBD’s inception, it was clear to the parties that poorer countries in particular would need financial support for implementation of its objectives. This was among the reasons for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) being set up within the World Bank in 1991. Chiefly financed by industrialised nations, the GEF aims to coordinate and enable the funding of projects in developing countries focusing on biological diversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, ozone layer depletion and persistent organic pollutants.

Between 1991 and 2006, support was provided for over 1,000 biodiversity-related projects out of a budget totalling US$2.2 billion (2006 figures). A further US$5.1 billion was leveraged in co-financing from other sources. The activities of the GEF are coordinated by a secretariat and carried out by three executive organisations: