Fonds français pour l'environnement mondial - FFEM

Summary: 

Organizational Profile: Created by the French government in 1994 following the first Earth Summit, the French Facility for Global Environment (Fonds français pour l'environnement mondial - FFEM) implements sustainable development projects that encompass protection of global public goods, international solidarity and innovation in developing and emerging countries. FFEM encourages innovative solutions that provide responses to global environmental problems in the fields of biodiversity, the climate, international waters, land degradation (including deforestation), chemical pollutants and stratospheric ozone. The Agence Française de Développement (AfD) provides the secretariat, as well as material and human resources and signs the conventions and contracts for the projects funded by FFEM.

Since its creation in 1994, FFEM has allowed over 300 projects reconciling environmental protection and economic growth to come into being and serve as models for the implementation of environmental projects and policies on a larger scale. Within the sustainable forests and agricultural lands strategic priority, the FFEM focuses on several issues: 
- Concerted management of rural territories 
- Envrionmental performance of agricultural and forest value chains 
- Fight against deforestation

Additionally, through two specific financial tools, FFEM encourages actors in the field to implement their initiatives combining environmental conservation and local development, in particular in Africa.
- Since 2006, FFEM’s Small-Scale Initiatives Program (PPI) has been supporting African Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) by financing small-scale projects for biodiversity conservation and the fight against climate change.
- The FISP-Climat aims to promote innovations in the sector of climate change, led by private actors and developed in an eligible country, in partnership with local actors. 

Financing Instrument: Grants. FFEM’s resources are replenished by the State budget and are renewed in 4-year cycles. During the most recent period, FFEM's resources stood at  €90 million. 

Project scale: The average amount of the FFEM grant is of the order of € 1 million. The low and high limits of FFEM funding are €500,000 and €2,000,000. The initial duration of FFEM operations may not exceed 5 years.
PPI, the Program for Small-Scale Initiatives conducts financing below €50,000 for NGOs. The average amount allocated is €35,000 per grant.

Recipient countries regions/country groups: FFEM prioritizes projects in Africa and the Mediterranean.

Recipient categories: FFEM can work with all types of actors: donors, public actors, private companies, researchers, local authorities, non-governmental organizations and foundations, and international organizations.

Eligibility Criteria:
In its conventional projects, FFEM always provides minority financing for development projects, in the form of grants, in addition to other cofinancing provided by project initiators, direct beneficiaries and their other financial partners. The part requested from the FFEM cannot exceed 30% of the overall budget of the project, and FFEM does not fund recurrent costs.
Each project must demonstrate that it fully meets eight criteria:
- contribution to the preservation of the global environment
- contribution to local development
- innovative project, participating in the diffusion or the change of scale of innovations
- demonstrative and reproducible character
- economic and financial sustainability after project
- ecological and environmental sustainability
- social and cultural acceptability
- adequate institutional framework

 PPI, the Program for Small-Scale Initiatives conducts based on 8 priority thematic areas.
1. Safeguard of endangered species
2. Fight against poaching
3. Resolution of conflicts between Humans and Wildlife
4. Conservation of ecosystems
5. Creation-Management of Protected Areas
6. Sustainable exploitation of natural resources and socioeconomic development
7. Fight against climate change
8. Environmental education

Application guidelines: To present a project, the project leader must go through one of the six member institutions of the FFEM steering committee. Entry points are therefore:
- Ministry of Economy and Finance
- Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs
- Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition
- Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation
- Ministry of Agriculture and Food
- The French Development Agency
These entry points will then propose this project to the steering committee of the FFEM.

There is a specific procedure for FISP-Climat and PPI, with calls for projects open for limited periods.

Publication Date
Thursday, 01 April 2021
Applicable location
Africa
Europe
Topic/Theme
Private sector and industry
Forest management certification
Agroforestry
Biodiversity conservation
Climate change
Database
Financing opportunities