OUR PRIORITIES

Nature-Based Economies

The Nature-Based Economies Program focuses on reducing marine litter in the insular Caribbean. Learn more about our fight for cleaner, healthier oceans.
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Program Overview

Nature-Based Economies ensure that ecosystem conservation is a source of capital for development and sustainable livelihoods while preserving the health of marine and coastal ecosystems. Conservation in this context involves actions to protect and sustainably manage ecosystems, that bring about economic benefits/capital for sustainable development addressing societal challenges effectively and adaptively, propelling:

  1. Healthy Ecosystems, Prosperous Communities: Sustainable management of ecosystems leads to economic opportunities and improved livelihoods for local people.
  2. Biodiversity & Resilience: Healthy ecosystems provide essential services like clean water, flood protection, and support a rich variety of life.
  3. Adapting to Change: NBE approaches can help communities adapt to climate change and other environmental challenges.

The NBE Program was established by the CBF as it aligns directly with the organization’s mission to ensure continuous funding for conservation and sustainable development in the Caribbean region.

Waste management is a major environmental problem in the Caribbean. The region faces significant challenges due to increasing waste production and limited comprehensive waste profiling. Many Caribbean countries struggle with upstream waste collection and downstream waste disposal, both financially and environmentally. Despite these challenges, there is a push towards integrated solid waste management through a circular economy approach.

The CE approach tackles waste, biodiversity loss, and pollution by:

  • Eliminating waste and pollution: Prioritizing strategies like reducing waste generation and promoting resource efficiency.
  • Circulating products and materials: Extending the life cycle of products and maximizing their value.
  • Regenerating nature: Investing in practices that restore and protect ecosystems.

The ACE Facility seeks to directly contribute to the reduction of marine litter in the Caribbean by promoting the circular economy among public and private actors. It was initiated in 2022, is currently funded by KfW Development Bank on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany and is driven by the CBF.

The ACE Facility

The Advancing Circular Economy (ACE) Facility expects to achieve the following results:

  1. Establishing a financing mechanism for circular economy interventions in the Caribbean.
  2. Implementation of circular economy measures that achieve measurable reduction of marine litter.
  3. Strengthening of capacities and awareness of public and private actors for circular economy principles and methods.

The ACE Facility will award grants through a competitive call for proposals mechanism and is expected to provide sustainable finance for up to 20 individual projects that will be executed until the end of its operations in 2028. The projects are expected to apply circular principles to prevent waste from entering the marine environment or removing marine litter.

Eligible grantees of the Facility include nongovernmental organizations, academia, public institutions, community-based organizations, and the private sector.

Beneficiary Countries

The Facility seeks to bring benefits to the wider Caribbean region with nine (9) primary beneficiary countries:

The ACE Facility is open to projects that demonstrate regional collaboration, sustainability and circular economy approach to address marine pollution in the region.

Calls for Proposals

The Advancing Circular Economy (ACE) Facility will launch its first call for proposals in August 2024.

We encourage organizations with impactful projects to explore their eligibility for funding. Here’s how to get started:

Who Can Apply

Find out if your organization and project is eligible for an ACE Facility grant.

Supported Projects

Understand the types of projects supported by the ACE Facility.

How to Apply

Submit a Concept Note for review. Selected Concept Notes will be invited to submit Full Proposals.

ACE Grantees

Explore the Program Grantees

Dive deeper and discover how our grantees are creating a more resilient Caribbean:

The grantees of this program will be available soon.

Program Resources

For a comprehensive understanding of this program, we invite you to explore the following resources:

Nature-based Economies Program Fact Sheet

The Nature-Based Economies Program will be developed around a new Advancing Circular Economy (ACE) Facility. 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, prevent or remove waste entering the marine environment and/or removing marine litter.

Funded by KfW, on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the objective of the ACE Facility is to contribute to the reduction of marine litter in the insular Caribbean. This is to be achieved by investments in equipment and infrastructure but also generation of data and knowledge, policy support and education of consumers.