Impact of the Global Environmental Facility on Multilateral Environmental Agreement Fragmentation

Abstract

International environmental regimes are largely fragmented. While much of the focus has been on institutional fragmentation, little focus has been paid to financial mechanisms and the projects they fund that support institutions and navigate their interlinkages. This thesis explores the impact of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) on Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA) fragmentation. It applies fragmentation theory in a mixed method approach to determine that the GEF fosters synergistic fragmentation among the climate change, biodiversity, and land degradation regimes. Using a frequency analysis of the GEF project portfolio this thesis finds that both the funding for and amount of integrated projects is increasing at the GEF. Additionally, a case study on a trio of Integrated Approach Pilots demonstrates that the a typology of fragmentation can be applied to projects initiated by financial mechanisms. Taken together, this thesis establishes the GEF as a coordinating mechanism responding to MEA fragmentation. Furthermore, it finds that environmental projects are an important vehicle in addressing the functional overlap between MEAs, and can be studied to understand the degrees of fragmentation in their related regimes.