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Caribbean Partnership Wins UN Award for Climate Adaptation Innovation
Caribbean Biodiversity Fund’s EbA Facility recognized globally for building resilience through nature-based solutions across the region

New York, USA — December 12, 2025 —
The Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) has been awarded the prestigious United Nations Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Partnership Award 2025 for its Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) Facility, which helps Caribbean communities harness healthy ecosystems to adapt to climate change. The Facility is a CBF project supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) through the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and KfW Development Bank. The CBF appreciates not only the German investment, but also their readiness to continue support for EbA approaches in the region.

Selected from partnerships worldwide, the EbA Facility was recognized in the Environmental category for its measurable climate adaptation impact, strong community leadership model, and proven potential for replication across vulnerable island nations.

Nature as Infrastructure

Since 2016, the CBF through the EbA Facility has committed over USD 45 million to 34 projects in 14 Caribbean countries, resulting in the improved management or protection of over 60,000 hectares of coastal ecosystems — from coral reefs that buffer communities against storm surges to mangrove forests that stabilize shorelines and support fisheries.

More than 36,000 people, including over 16,000 women, have directly benefited through projects that simultaneously address climate adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable livelihoods.

“CBF designed the EbA Facility to demonstrate what effective climate adaptation in the Caribbean looks like. It is locally led, scientifically sound, and economically inclusive. This UN recognition validates an approach we’ve long believed in — that local island partners and communities themselves hold the solutions to practical climate resilience,” said CBF CEO Karen McDonald Gayle.

Caribbean Innovation Going Global

EbA Facility grantees are pioneering techniques reshaping marine conservation across the region, with innovations rapidly spreading between islands. In the Dominican Republic, AI-assisted coral rearing facilities have been developed. Sexual coral reproduction methods have been transferred from the Dominican Republic to Cuba through peer-to-peer learning, where partners created a national coral spawning calendar.

Jamaica is advancing economical silvicultural approaches to coral mass propagation, while Eastern Caribbean teams are piloting Assisted Gene Flow models to exchange coral genetic material and prevent local extinction.

In Saint Lucia, what began as community resistance to vetiver grass planting transformed into nationwide adoption by the national water company, illustrating how locally engaged adaptation can scale to institutional change.

A Model for Global Replication

The UN SIDS Partnership Award, established by Member States in 2021, recognizes partnerships aligned with the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS). Winners are selected based on SMART criteria: SIDS specific, measurable and monitorable, achievable and accountable, resource-based and results-focused, and timeline-bound with transparency.

“This award confirms what is possible when efficient financing meets committed international support and strong local action. It recognizes not just what we’ve achieved, but the transformative potential of this model to build a resilient future for Small Island Developing States worldwide,” said EbA Facility Program Manager Dr Ulrike Krauss.

Building Networks for Lasting Impact

Beyond funding, the EbA Facility has cultivated lasting knowledge networks connecting 40 current and former grantees and their partners, while the Caribbean Coral Health Forum engages over 100 practitioners through webinars, peer exchanges, and field visits.

With operations continuing through 2030, the EbA Facility is expanding its reach across the Caribbean at a critical moment as climate impacts intensify and demand grows for proven, scalable adaptation solutions.