UNEP is working with Ukraine’s Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and the State Agency on the CEZ to support that renaissance. A six-year project, launched in 2015 and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), titled Conserving, Enhancing and Managing Carbon Stocks and Biodiversity in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, has helped establish a national biosphere reserve around Chernobyl,  says UNEP coordinator for Europe Mahir Aliyev, who is managing the project.