Supporting the Sustainable Financing of Biodiversity Conservation via the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CRAB)

The Caribbean is home to around 1% of global biodiversity, 10% of coral reefs and 8 - 35% of the world’s endemic species. Sadly, conservation of this ecological abundance is happening within a complex regional situation, characterised by geographical, linguistic and political fragmentation. Patchy endogenous funding in Caribbean countries also means that effective conservation action is delayed, while the region’s population depends heavily on natural resources.

The Caribbean Biodiversity Fund was founded in 2012 to address these challenges. Its aim: to encourage the sustainable and reliable financing of conservation across the region in a coherent, coordinated and effective way.

The “Caribbean Regional Architecture for Biodiversity” (CRAB) project has three components:

• Reinforce the capabilities of the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund network, particularly by supporting existing national funds in identifying technical shortcomings while adopting sustainable and effective financial mechanisms that are fit for purpose.
• Positione the network as a key conservation player in the region, by providing it with the tools to help it prioritise its financing in terms of subject and location.
• Consolidate the network’s ability to meet local and regional conservation needs, particularly in urgent interventions such as those related to the Covid-19 pandemic, while strengthening the abilities of national funds to identify and finance relevant projects.

• Create a strategic planning tool for interventions at regional and national scale, based on the priorities defined by regional approaches and the international agenda.
• Organise of at least five regional workshops on the priority issues for biodiversity.
• Create a shared diagnostic for the protected areas and communities most affected by the health crisis. A “post Covid” facility to support vulnerable populations, for greater environmental, social and financial resilience.
• Support for the development of sustainable “Blue Bio Trade” industries in partnership with the Organisation of East Caribbean States (OECS), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

The CRAB project is particularly innovative in terms of governance: it supports the development of a sustainable financing platform for conservation action across an entire eco-region, working with other regional technical tools. This organisational tool makes it possible to collectively define international commitments in matters of biodiversity, and enforce resulting obligations on the ground.

In addition, the Blue Bio Trade component, aimed at generating economic alternatives based on the sustainable exploitation of marine natural resources, is a pioneering approach, as is the promotion of alternative economic models for conservation, particularly for post-Covid recovery financing intended for pro-nature activities and the most severely affected populations. The pairing of French players (public and private) with their opposite numbers in the other Caribbean countries is also a first.