Caribbean Biodiversity Fund
Karen McDonald Gayle is an accomplished environmental professional with extensive experience in conservation and environmental management. Currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund since June 2018, Karen has also held notable positions such as Conservation Finance Program Manager and Acting Chief Executive Officer. As a founding member of the Jamaica Institute of Environmental Professionals, Karen plays a crucial role in enhancing environmental management standards in Jamaica. Previous roles include CEO of the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica and various positions with USAID, contributing to significant environmental programs and projects. Karen holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from the University of East Anglia and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Mathematics from the University of the West Indies, among other qualifications.
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Caribbean Biodiversity Fund
Established in September 2012, the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) is a regional Environmental Fund whose objective is to provide a sustainable flow of resources to support activities that contribute substantially to the conservation, protection and maintenance of biodiversity in the Caribbean. The CBF mobilises resources and channels support to partners and projects. Currently, the CBF manages approximately USD 70 million through 2 financial instruments: The Endowment Fund With about USD 43 million, the endowment is a permanent funding source to the National Conservation Trust Funds (NCTFs), who in turn lead grant-making programs at the national level. One of the CBF’s endowment key principles is that national partner funds must create sustainable finance mechanisms to trigger a minimum of 1:1 match to the CBF endowment resources. The revenue sources can be private and/or public. Donors to date include the Government of Germany through the German Development Bank (KfW), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) — through the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) — and The Nature Conservancy. The EbA Facility With about USD 26.5 million, this is a sinking fund to provide resources directly to selected national and regional projects on Ecosystem-based Adaptation to climate change. The EbA Facility funded projects will be selected by a technical committee (the EbA Committee) in a competitive basis, through Calls for Proposals that will start to be launched in 2018. The fund initial donation was fully contributed by Government of Germany through the German Development Bank (KfW) and has an estimated duration of 5 years. The CBF continues to raise non-permanent and permanent funding to bring on additional countries and for regional conservation and sustainable development actions.