GEF promotes many important projects solving various aspects of sustainable agriculture and sustainable utilisation of grassland formations. The most important initiatives are listed bellow.
The project implemented by FOA shall provide for the exchange of information and lessons taken from the mentioned initiatives, and shall build upon such experience to assure efficient usage of funds provided from GEF.

Central European permanent grasslands - protection and sustainable utilisation
GEF Project implemented in Slovakia and financed by the World Bank started in June 2000. The project promotes permanently sustainable utilisation of meadows in four areas: SRNP ("Slovenský ráj" national park), MFNP (Malá Fatra national park), river Morava flood-plain and the valley of Oslavice river in the following way: (a) processing and implementation of recovery and care plan for the area; (b) analysis and implementation of motivation stimulating farmers to implement sustainable ways of meadow treatment respecting biodiversity; (c) creation of Slovak database of permanent grasslands as an information framework for the definition of national policy for protection of biodiversity of meadows and pastures; (d) training and capacity building among leading officials and land owners. The objective of the project is to assist Slovakia in maintaining representative patterns of unique grass ecosystems and their biodiversity both in protected areas and productive landscape through enhancing recovery, protection and sustainable ways of farming.

The project GEF implemented in Slovakia by UNDP was approved in 2003. The project aims at protection of biology diversity of Carpathian moorlands with the focus to moorlands on calcareous subsoil representing a unique ecosystem found in Slovakia. Mainly, the following problems are solved within the project: 1) drainage of moorlands, 2) lack of appropriate care for protected areas of moorlands, 3) lack of awareness and appreciation of biodiversity of the moorlands, 4) low institutional capacity for the solution of problems hampering biodiversity of the moorlands, 5) low political will to assure corresponding protection of biodiversity of the moorlands. The project activities carried out in three locations shall serve as the demonstration of the best procedures to be used in rehabilitation of these valuable habitats and care for them, and lessons learned shall be used in establishment and maintenance of Natura 2000 system in Slovakia, with the special focus given to protection of biodiversity of the moorlands and bogs.

Integration of principles and procedures of ecosystem maintaining in soil-and-water maintaining and use in Laborec and Uh river valleys
The project GEF aims at promoting sustainable transfer from conventional water management and agriculture to integrated ecosystem approaches by water resources officers, farmers and others in the Eastern Slovak Lowlands. In this way the biodiversity important from the global point of view may be protected and the nutrient load of the longest European river may be reduced. Entities involve in the project shall apply procedures focusing on care for ecosystems in the wetland area between the rivers of Laborec and Uh in the Eastern Slovak Lowlands. The project shall finance profitable activities in ecosystem care and shall be closely associated with the effort of government focusing on a change in water management and farming procedures applied in the area of Laborec and Uh rivers. The project should demonstrate low-cost and ecology-oriented methods of transfer to sustainable agriculture and water management regimes which generate the total biodiversity improve water quality and mean global benefits in the form of increased absorption of carbon.

Integrated care and ecosystem maintaining in Northern Bohemia
The project GEF should contribute both to biodiversity important from the global point of view and to quality and quantity of water resources in Labe river basin through implementation of plans and procedures of integrated ecosystem care in the area of so called Czech Switzerland of the Czech Republic. The proposed project shall assist the Czech Republic in general improvement of environment and in implementation of sustainable development principles in the protection of biodiversity and protection of internationally important surface water resources.

Maintaining and rehabilitation of globally important biodiversity of alluvial floodplain of Tisza river through integrated care and alluvial floodplain maintenance
Sustainable development favourable for biodiversity maintaining in Tisza river floodplain is the objective of this project. The direct goal means implementation of holistic floodplain cultivation favourable for maintaining the biodiversity as a dominant development paradigm in the upper Tisza floodplain. Four fractional project outcomes should contribute to that. First, the project should bring sustainable regional mechanism (platform) to support local initiatives and should provide such initiatives with direct communication channels to the national decision makers. Second, the platform should develop tools supporting integrated and holistic cultivation of the floodplain. Third, each of the initiatives should work out a plan, and the project shall fund its implementation. Fourth, such integrated and holistic cultivation favourable for biodiversity maintaining should be then incorporated into respective national concepts.

Maintaining of globally important biodiversity of the Rodopy mountains landscape in Bulgaria
This Project GEF implemented in Bulgaria at present aims at maintaining and sustainable use of Rodopy mountains biodiversity. The project assists the integration of biodiversity goals into productive areas. Landscape protection in natural landscape parks of Western Rodopy and Eastern Rodopy, and integration of biodiversity issues into the management of resources and into the policies and practices of economic development are the main goals of the project.

The proposed UNDP/GEF project for Carpathians shall benefit from findings and lessons obtained in the frame of the above mentioned projects, namely in institutional capacity building, increase of public awareness of the issues and assurance of sustainable goals of protection through Natura 2000 programme, and agro-environmental measures programmes. The project team shall be in contact with partners involved in other GEF programmes in the region, namely in the initial stage of the project, in order to be able to analyse their experience and findings and to implement them into the proposed project strategy and work plan.