Policy Coherence for Global Environmental Benefits

The GEF-funded, UNEP-implemented project aims to support biodiversity conservation efforts in Colombia, Mongolia and Zambia, through the identification of approaches and promotion of mutually reinforcing legal frameworks and alignment of financial resources for global biodiversity benefits. Project documents can be found on the GEF website.

The GEF Focal Points for the project are:

  • Colombia: Ms. Diana Mejía Molina, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Political Focal Point
  • Colombia: Ms. Daniela Durán González, Ministry of Environment, Operational Focal Point
  • Mongolia: Mr. Odonbaatar Shijeekhuu, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Political Focal Point
  • Mongolia: Mr. Batkhisig Purevdoo, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Operational Focal Point
  • Zambia: Mr. Mabvuto Sakala, Ministry of Water Development, Sanitation & Environmental Protection, Political Focal Point
  • Zambia: Mr. Richard Mfumu Lungu, Ministry of Water Development, Sanitation, and Environmental Protection, Operational Focal Point

The Need

In the context of the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate change, it is urgent to implement systemic changes to lead our planet towards sustainable development.

The alignment of policy frameworks to promote intersectoral synergies and minimize or avoid trade-off, or "policy coherence", is a fundamental condition to ensure the success and sustainability of efforts and investments made for the generation of global environmental benefits.

Improvement of policy coherence for global biodiversity benefits requires a whole-of-government approach and whole-of-society engagement, at both the national and subnational level, to create mutually reinforcing sectoral policies.

Policy coherence faces many challenges:

At National Level:

Silo-approach policymaking prevents an adequate consideration of environmental concerns in the design of policies, regulations, plans, and development processes.

At Subnational Level:

Lack of coordination across government levels (national, subnational, and local) creates incoherences on policy development and implementation.

The GEF

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is actively supporting countries to improve policy coherence for the generation of global environmental benefits and the alignment of financial flows for nature.

UNEP

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), as the global custodiam of the Sustainable Development Goal Indicator 17.14.1 on Policy Coherence, works globally to help countries to enhance mechanisms and processes for policy coherence.

UNEP also leads the Global Policy Coherence Network, bringing together representatives of international organizations, NGOs, and think tanks interested in advancing this topic.

An innovative approach to enhance policy coherence for global environmental benefits:

This project is highly innovative since it is the first time that the GEF embarks on a comprehensive analysis of the legislature looking at the policy arena from different sectors that affect the generation and permanence of global environmental benefits.

Project implementation will take advantage of ICCF’s experience working with parliamentary conservation caucuses, where the ICCF Group has led this model in supporting these caucuses to develop their conservation agendas into legislative action and policies, and through convening members of parliament with relevant stakeholders and experts.

Major components of the project include:

  1. Identify approaches and opportunities for policy coherence to deliver nature-positive results in general and Global Biodiversity Benefits in particular.
  2. Country pilots to increase policy coherence through technical reviews and legislative process.
  3. Knowledge management, sharing, and communications.

Colombia

Colombia faces important challenges to guarantee the environmental sustainability of its territories and the provision of ecosystem services for the well-being of society, among which are the transformation of ecosystems due to processes such as deforestation, the overexploitation of natural resources, the expansion and intensification of agricultural invasive species, and climate change, and others.

From the policy coherence perspective, there are barriers to overcome in order to improve the coherence of the legal framework such as the “silo approach” to policymaking, vested interest influencing policy outputs, and the lack of capacities and knowledge to assess policies’ long-term environmental, social, and economic impact.

The project will encourage participation of key stakeholders in all stages, from identification of key issues through the identification of alternatives to improve the coherence of the legal framework.

Key Stakeholers

  • Parliamentary Conservation Caucus
  • Members of Parliament
  • Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development
  • Colombian Ocean Commission
  • National Planning Department
  • Directorate of National Natural Parks
  • Choco Regional Autonomous Corporation
  • National Congress
  • National Army
  • NGOs: WWF, Conservation International, Global Compact, Fondo Accion, Institute Alexander von Humboltd

Zambia

Zambia is endowed with abundant natural resources and a fairly rich biological diversity. The country is highly dependent on the exploitation of biological resources for the livelihoods of the majority of its people, especially those living in rural areas. The importance of biodiversity for Zambia lies mainly in its contribution to the provision of ecosystem goods and services for national economic development and livelihoods. Much of the work on biodiversity assessment and conservation in Zambia is at species level and to a limited extent at ecosystem and genetic levels. Biodiversity in Zambia is increasingly coming under pressure from both human and natural factors.

Zambia’s policymaking scenario presents opportunities to improve coherence to ensure a sustainable use of its natural resources and the conservation of its biodiversity, through the enhancement of the legislative and executive interface, the strengthening of technical capacities for policy analysis, and the improvement of access to information. The project will encourage participation of key stakeholders in all stages, from identification of key issues through the identification of alternatives to improve the coherence of the legal framework.

Key Stakeholers

  • Parliamentary Conservation Caucus
  • Members of Parliament
  • Ministry of Land and Natural Resources
  • Embassy of the United States of America
  • NGOs: African Parks, Wildlife Crime Prevention, Save Zambezi, Safe Zambia

Mongolia

In Mongolia, the major threats to biodiversity include climate change, water shortage, land use changes, and desertification. The vegetation cover of the Gobi is mainly influenced by human-induced factors, such as overgrazing, mining, and the illegal collection of plants. Habitats of plants are fragmenting under the influence of these factors, as well as from the impacts of climate change.

Regarding the coherence of the policy framework to support the sustainable use of natural resources, there are opportunities to improve coordination among sectors and stakeholders, as well as advance coherence and consistency between long- and medium-term sectoral and local development policies.

The project will encourage participation of key stakeholders in all stages, from identification of key issues to the identification of alternatives to improve the coherence of the legal framework.

Key Stakeholers

  • Parliamentary Conservation Caucus
  • Members of Parliament
  • State Great Khural
  • Ministry of Environment and Tourism
  • NGOs: Asia Foundation, The Nature Conservancy

Workshop on Policy Coherence in Mongolia’s Environmental Law Reform

On 6 February 2026, a workshop was held in Ulaanbaatar to review progress on conservation draft law reform and to discuss priorities for 2026 implementation under the “Policy Coherence for Global Environmental Benefits” project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), implemented by UNEP, and executed by the ICCF Group and key stakeholders. The project, which also operates in Colombia and Zambia, supports Mongolia’s efforts to improve alignment among conservation-driven and land-related legislation and strengthen outcomes.

The in-person workshop brought together representatives of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry (MOFALI), legal experts, researchers, civil society organizations, and representatives from the Mongolian Rangers Federation (MRF) and the private sector. Discussions focused on Mongolia’s legislative framework for Specially Protected Areas (SPAs), land use, forestry, water, mining, agriculture, and conservation-related impact assessment (EIA), all of which operate in the same territories but are often governed by fragmented rules and overlapping mandates.

A central theme was the need to move from an approach that treats SPAs as zones of absolute prohibition toward management-based regulation that balances protection, local livelihoods, tourism, and research. Participants highlighted legal ambiguities around concepts such as “water body/aquatic area” and “resource-use management,” as well as the need to clarify conditions for the use of non-timber forest products, access for local residents, and safety provisions for people entering the interior of forest areas. MOFALI noted that conservation policy must reflect pastoral livelihoods and regional socio-economic realities, rather than transplanting international legal models without adaptation.​

Experts underscored that Mongolia’s challenges stem less from a lack of laws and more from limited coherence among “foundational laws” such as the Law on Land and the Law on Subsoil, and their alignment with legislation governing SPA, forestry, water, and mining. Weak institutional capacity, frequent staff turnover, parallel working groups, and gaps in accountability were cited as factors that undermine effective implementation and institutional memory. Participants also noted that Mongolia still lacks mechanisms to reflect ecosystem services and carbon sequestration in land valuation and called for the development of standards and regulations that better integrate conservation-minded, social, and economic considerations.

The workshop devoted significant attention to strengthening the EIA framework, where participants identified administrative burdens, unclear provisions, overlapping regulations, and limited community participation as key issues.

Proposed reforms include clearer screening thresholds, a shift toward a three-tier assessment system, digitalization and transparency measures, and the integration of social impact considerations and internationally recognized risk-classification systems. Participants also discussed recognizing assessments conducted by institutions such as the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and improving communication to ensure that affected communities are properly informed about project impacts and company obligations.

In the closing session, participants agreed that policy coherence should be treated as a continuous process rather than a one-time legislative effort. They emphasized the need to clarify the conceptual foundations of core framework laws, align sectoral legislation with these framework laws, and develop valuation and accounting mechanisms for ecosystem services and carbon sequestration. Under the “Policy Coherence for Global Environmental Benefits” project, these insights will inform the 2026 workplan to strengthen integrated, coherent conservation governance and deliver global benefits.

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