Nature-based solutions for climate resilience receive €10 million boost

The Federal Ministry for the Environment provides further financial resources for the Global EbA Fund and increases the total commitment to 30 million euros.

At the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), the Federal Environment Ministry of Germany (BMU) announced it will provide an additional EUR 10 million to the Global EbA Fund, a pioneering funding mechanism implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and designed to support nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation. This takes the Ministry’s total commitment to the fund up to €30 million.

The Global EbA Fund was launched in March 2021 by IUCN and the UNEP, supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Environment Ministry of Germany. The Fund aims to accelerate the uptake and financing of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) by providing seed capital to catalytic and innovative ecosystem-based adaptation initiatives.

At the same time, the Global EbA Fund has approved its first seven grants, ranging from coral reef protection in the Philippines to restoring riverbank ecosystems for erosion control in Fiji.

“We are impressed by the number and diversity of applications,” says Dr. Philipp Behrens, Head of BMU’s International Climate Initiative. “Providing fast access to finance for innovative EbA projects is the key aim of the Global EbA Fund. We are convinced that with an additional €10m we will accelerate the uptake of EbA on multiple levels to further unleash the potential of ecosystem-based adaptation and nature-based solutions for adaptation.”

Collectively, this first set of seven projects will work to increase the uptake, scalability, and replicability of ecosystem-based adaptation interventions across diverse ecosystems in nine countries, spanning five continents. These projects will demonstrate the economic co-benefits of ecosystem-based adaptation implementation with an emphasis on local needs, synergistic effects between ecosystem-based adaptation and other approaches.