This is an invaluable 52-page online guide to navigating the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the official UN funding mechanism for environmental projects. GEF has spent close to $2 billion in its first decade of operations and biodiversity is one of its five focal areas.

GEF is also controversial among NGOs, partly because of the close involvement of the World Bank in its grant-making decisions, as well as the ambiguous nature of the idea of 'incremental costs' that underpins all of its financing.

This guide advises organisations seeking GEF funding not to despair at the first hurdle. It argues that the journey through GEF's cumbersome bureaucracy is worth the effort, as few organisations - if any - can match its commitment, or level of funding, for conservation projects.

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