Brian Child has recently been appointed as the Biodiversity Panel Member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel’s (STAP) of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). STAP’s mandate is to provide strategic scientific and technical advice to the GEF to enhance the scientific and technical quality of GEF investments and to enhancing innovation. The Global Environmental Facility is an international partnership that serves as the financial mechanism for five global conventions including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Since 1991 the GEF has provided $12.5 billion in grants and leveraged $58 billion in the co-financing of 3,690 projects in 165 developing countries. The budget for biodiversity in GEF-6 (2014-2018) is approximately $1.3 billion. Dr. Child’s specifi! c responsibilities are to support improving financial sustainability and effective management of protected area systems including the provision of tangible socio-economic co-benefits, and to mainstream biodiversity conservation and sustainable use into production landscapes and seascapes.