Biodiv’Eco: 14 projects for reconciling economic development and biodiversity conservation

In March 2021, the French Biodiversity Agency (OFB) launched the first Biodiv'Eco call for projects (AAP). This initiative, which closed on 1st July, aims to support the emergence of biodiversity-friendly economic development projects on the Atlantic coast of Overseas France.
The national selection committee chose 14 projects out of the 62 submitted. These 14 winners will benefit from a financial envelope from the OFB, initially planned at 300,000 euros and increased to 450,000 euros in view of the success of this first call for projects.

Successful first Biodiv’Eco call for projects

Organised to identify, develop and support economic projects based on, and favourable to, biodiversity, the call for projects also aimed to create a territorial dynamic based on a partnership ecosystem. The two strategic objectives of this call for projects were achieved:

• The sectors of eco-tourism, PAMP (Perfume, Aromatic and Medicinal Plants) cosmetics, agro-ecology/agro-processing, forestry/wood and biomaterials are all found within the winning projects proposed. The projects are led by both companies and associations.
• A group of expert partners and project co-financiers, from the field of economic development and institutions active in the environmental domain, were mobilised to select the winning projects. From the 7^th to 14^th June, five territorial project selection committees were organised in each of the territories concerned, bringing together more than fifty partners in French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Barthélemy, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon

On the 1^st July, the national committee was able to harmonise the list of projects evaluated by the territorial committees and finalise the selection: the 14 projects selected stood out for their innovative and partnership-based nature and their commitment to biodiversity.

The selected promoters will benefit not only from a grant for their project but also from engineering support, particularly on the biodiversity-preservation aspect of their actions.

Strong mobilisation of local partners in the selection of projects

A large number of partners attended the whole selection process. Supported by companies as well as associations, different types of projects were selected, such as coconut waste recovery in Guadeloupe, the development of a local forestry seedlings supply in French Guiana or the creation of a digital partnership platform to structure the micro-industry of pleasure-boaters in Martinique.