The Gulf Research Center Foundation has been granted special consultative status at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. The status allows GRCF to attend all UN conferences ; request the Secretary-General to place items of special interest in the provisional agenda of the council; designate representatives to the UN Headquarters in NY and the UN offices in Geneva and Vienna; and submit written statements and oral presentations to the work of the council.
Based on the recommendation of the Division of Environmental Policy Development and Law, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi has accredited GRC to the Governing Council of UNEP, thereby granting it the status of an international non-governmental organization. This recognition allows the GRC to designate its representatives to sit as observers at meetings pertaining to environmental issues hosted by the UNEP Governing Council and its subsidiary organs.
GRC is a member of the Science and Technology Major Group of UNEP and serves as the elected Global Focal Point of this Major Group with the assignment of helping to coordinate its actions. Left – GRC participation in the second meeting of the Open-Ended Committee of Permanent Representatives (OECPR 2) in preparation for the second United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 2) - UNEP Headquarters, Nairobi, Kenya, February 2016.
The World Bank Group's Global Environment Facility (GEF) Program is one of the institution's largest and longest standing trust-funded programs. The GEF helps developing countries fund projects and programs that protect the global environment. Since it helped to establish GEF in 1991, the World Bank has integrated global environmental benefits across its programs through more than 790 investment projects and programs in 120 countries spanning every region of the world. GRC gained GEF accreditation in September 2006 and so hasthe right to attend the NGO consultations held prior to each GEF council meeting and the GEF assembly in Washington, DC. GRC was elected as the Regional Focal Point of the GEF-NGO Network for the West Asia Region in 2010 and re-elected for a four year term commencing in 2012.
