The BEST Initiative is a European dedicated financial mechanism for supporting biodiversity actions in the EU Overseas. It has been is implemented both in the Outremosts Regions (ORs) and the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) with the aim to unlock the potential of new initiatives and to support local stakeholders to protect a unique biodiversity, beautiful and critical ecosystems and to deploy naturebased solutions. From 2011 to 2018, BEST has financed 90 projects worth a total of EUR 18 million. All of them can be found in this brochure. New projects have been selected and funded in the ORS under the calls for proposals of the LIFE4BEST programme in in 2019 and 2020 (see LIFE4BEST project lists). 

To enhance the promotion and understanding of the EU’s support, the BEST Secretariat has launched a Media Grant Programme in the ORs, a scheme that will provide a maximum amount of EUR 8.500 (per grant) to freelancers (or consortia) and/or staff journalists (or consortia) to boost and amplify impactful coverage of the BEST-funded projects revolving around local stakeholders initiatives and biodiversity conservation.

The geographical scope targets 4 regions: Amazonia – French Guiana (France); Caribbean – Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint-Martin (France); Indian Ocean – Réunion and Mayotte (France).

All details and relevant documents are available on the IUCN website.