ABSTRACT
Humanity is at a critical juncture of environmental, social, and economic factors, with human health and well-being inextricably linked with a healthy natural environment. The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark illustration of this link. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was the first significant international public fund established to address global environmental problems following the 1992 Earth Summit and remains virtually the only fund focusing on biodiversity conservation and other terrestrial and marine environmental challenges. This book draws on the findings from independent evaluation of environmental programs in developing countries implemented by the GEF. This chapter presents the landscape within which the GEF operates and its institutional framework. At this juncture of humanity, independent evaluation is critical – evaluation carried out by entities and persons free from the control of those responsible for the design and implementation of interventions. Evaluation provides evidence-based lessons and guidance for organizations and policy makers to grasp the environmental-social-economic interlinkages in designing programs and policies. The human-environment nexus presents additional challenges and opportunities for evaluation. Evaluation must be able to provide evidence of how actions in the development domain affect the environment and vice versa.
