Regional Fund
Caribbean Biodiversity Fund - CBF
Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF)
The CBF is a regional environmental umbrella fund that uses a flexible structure to implement innovative solutions and consolidate resource mobilization in the Caribbean through a range of financial instruments. It was established in 2012 to create reliable, long-term financing for conservation and sustainable development in the Caribbean region. CBF works towards the vision of a Caribbean region in which both its natural environment and its people thrive. Today, CBF has three programs:
Under the Conservation Finance program, CBF manages an endowment fund, which invests funds for long-term conservation and provides financial resource support to eligible National Conservation Trust Funds (NCTFs), which lead the grant-making process at the national level. This program also includes an organizational development component, which strengthens the network of conservation trust funds in the Caribbean that, together with CBF, form the Caribbean Sustainable Finance Architecture (CSFA). As part of the organization's strategic focus, CBF has received funding to implement regional projects from financial partners designed to further strengthen the CSFA. Activities funded by the Conservation Finance Program may include support for protected area management and establishment (including management plans), infrastructure inside and outside protected areas for natural resource management, environmental education, community engagement, environmental policy and research.
The Climate Change Program, through its Ecosystem-Based Adaptation (EbA) Facility, provides direct funding to local, national and regional projects through competitive calls for proposals that support effective climate change adaptation measures in the insular Caribbean. Eligible beneficiaries are government non-profit organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), government agencies, regional organizations, private sector companies, universities and other academic institutions. Consortia of organizations are encouraged. Funding for the EbA Facility was provided by the German Government, through the State Development Bank of the Federal Republic of Germany (KfW) and the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection.
Its most recent program, Nature-Based Economies (NBE), has been developed to address pollution reduction in the region. The Advancing the Circular Economy (ACE) Facility, which is part of the NBE Program, addresses marine debris management in the insular Caribbean. The ACE Facility will work with public and private sector partners, as well as other Caribbean stakeholders, to fund projects that promote and apply practical circular economy principles to minimize and prevent the input of waste into the marine environment and/or eliminate marine debris. This will be achieved through investments in equipment and infrastructure, as well as through data and knowledge generation, policy support and consumer education. Currently, the ACE Facility is financed through a sinking fund by KfW on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.