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The French government created the FGEF in 1994, in the wake of the Rio Summit, in order to bring its commitment to protection of the global environment in developing countries into practice. The FGEF encourages developing countries to implement sustainable development strategies, programmes and projects that address key issues for the global environment: biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, including desertification and deforestation, persistent organic pollutants, the stratospheric ozone layer.

France has an important role and extensive responsibilities in protecting the world's oceans. It is the world's third largest maritime power with an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covering 11 million km2, and has the fourth largest area of coral reefs representing biodiversity hotspots. According to a recent Nature Conservancy assessment, only 1% of marine areas (as against 12 % of all land areas) are officially protected today, despite government commitments under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to place 10% of all marine areas under protection by 2012. Furthermore, only 4 % of coastal areas across the globe are under protective measures, and their coverage is very uneven (70% in New Zealand and less than 2% in the Mediterranean). Protection of the world's marine environment therefore still demands major efforts.