FFEM's mandate is to support innovation for the preservation of the global environment and local development in developing countries.
FFEM’s actions fall within the environment and development guidelines established by the French government and confirmed by the Interministerial Committee for International Cooperation (CICID).
The projects supported by FFEM contribute simultaneously to the issues at stake in several major international environmental conventions and also participate in helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015. Thus, the FFEM's mandate covers :
- The fight against climate change and its harmful effects, with particular reference to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;
- The preservation and sustainable management of biodiversity and natural resources, with particular reference to the Convention on Biological Diversity;
- The protection of international inland and marine waters, within the framework of multilateral conventions on international waters and transboundary basins;
- The fight against desertification and land degradation, including deforestation, in particular in the framework of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification;
- Waste management and the fight against chemical pollutants, notably in the framework of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Minamata Convention on Mercury;
- The elimination of substances that deplete the stratospheric ozone layer, under the Montreal Protocol.
As such, in line with its multilateral counterpart, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), FFEM finances initiatives that help developing countries achieve the objectives of these conventions.