It has been a year since the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund signed a Financing Agreement with the German Government through the German Development Bank (KfW) for €25 Million to activate the Ecosystem-based Adaptation Facility. Since then, the CBF has been working on developing the processes for the roll out of the Facility.
The EbA Facility is a sinking fund which will award grants during the period 2018 to 2022 for actions across the Caribbean to support climate change adaptation and poverty alleviation through biodiversity conservation and ecosystems management. The grants will assist organisations in beneficiary Caribbean countries in efforts to maintain and increase resilience and reduce the vulnerability of ecosystems and people in the face of the adverse effects of climate change. Beneficiary countries will be those in the insular Caribbean entitled to Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) through German cooperation, and could include Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Grenada, Jamaica, Haiti, Saint Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines.
Since signing, the CBF and KfW have been engaged in initiating the required systems for the governance and operationalization of the EbA Facility. These include those related to decision-making, staffing, asset management, strategic approach, grants selection procedures, budgeting and work planning, and communications.
During October 2017, Dr. Joth Singh was hired as Programme Manager for the EbA Facility bringing a wealth of management, technical experience and knowledge to the CBF. He has been able since joining the CBF to promote the EbA Facility at the meeting of the Network of Environmental Funds for Latin America and the Caribbean (RedLAC) recently held in the Dominican Republic and at the UN Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC COP23) Conference convened in Germany. In the short-term, he is also leading the completion of the required systems to facilitate the selection of projects and the release of funds to the beneficiary organizations. It is expected that the first call for proposals will be made in the first half of 2018.
