The need of a EU dedicated mechanism for the Overseas was underlined in the Message from the 1st EU Overseas Biodiversity and Climate Change Conference held in La Reunion in July 2008 (Message from Reunion Island). The European Commission and the European Parliament then supported the development of the “BEST Initiative” on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Territories of European Overseas. Several calls for projects were organised and a BEST III consortium led by IUCN developed useful regional ecosystem profiles mobilising several networks of expertise and stakeholders in all EU Overseas.
The need for a dedicated European financial mechanism for supporting projects in EU Overseas was reiterated at the 2nd EU Overseas Biodiversity and Climate Change Conference (La Guadeloupe Island, 2014) as its Message called for a dedicated mechanism to better support actions and ease access to the available European funds for the Overseas Territories.
From 2011 to 2018, BEST has financed 90 projects worth a total of EUR 18 million. The BEST 2.0 Programme supported by the European Commission DG DEVCO.
The funded projects aimed to promote i) the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, ii) the sustainable use of ecosystem services and natural resources, and iii) the ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation and mitigation in EU Overseas
Francis was appointed as a Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) expert for the Pacific region (French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, and Pitcairn).
