Receiving funding from the Global Environment Facility is politicized. This was stated on November 13 by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus, Sergei Maslyak.
According to him, issues on the environmental agenda are being politicized, in particular the possibility of financing certain projects with funds from the Global Environment Facility.
“It is quite difficult to defend your point of view and your position. Even if a certain amount of funding has been confirmed, it is very difficult to confirm the application.” – said.
Maslyak explained that the decision to approve the application is made by 32 countries, but for the application to be approved this decision must be unanimous. But in the current situation this is unlikely. The minister cited a project related to Gomel Polesie as an example. We are talking about the territories affected by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.
“For this they have assigned us 6.9 million dollars. We have already raided the Global Environment Facility several times together with our partners at the United Nations Development Programme, but so far they have denied us.” – stated the head of the Belarusian ministry.
At the same time, he stressed that, first of all, the Belarusian side relies on its own forces when implementing environmental projects.
“You should never wait for someone’s help. We must follow our own path. We are a self-sufficient country. But without a doubt it is necessary to support international initiatives.” – Maslyak emphasized.
He also noted that Belarus does not share all approaches, but supports most of those related to minimizing environmental emissions and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
