Rio+20 (16/06/2012) – Monique Barbut, Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson at the Global Environment Facility says there must be more synergy between the three Rio Conventions now they have all reached what she terms as adulthood.

Working closely with all three secretariats, GEF says that for many of the countries – particularly poor countries in Africa – you cannot separate problems out between climate, biodiversity and land degradation because for communities the three are the same problem.

The GEF says that there are many areas the conventions could come together to also encourage departments within countries to come together, discuss issues as one and push for more joint projects.

Barbut also tells Pavilion TV that while we may see cycles where different topics are at the forefront of the agenda, for example 20 years ago it was biodiversity, more recently it has been climate change and at the Rio+20 summit it is oceans which everyone is talking about, this comes in cycles and the GEF continue to work across the board on all of the conventions aims.