The goal is to empower Project Implementers to facilitate new, lasting and sustainable protected or conserved areas that are in line with community and government needs and desires.

Types of Awards

• Feasibility Awards
  • Rainforest Trust provides Feasibility Awards to assess the potential for creating or expanding protected or conserved areas. These awards are intended to address specific information gaps in conservation projects, as precursors to applying for a Protected or Conserved Area Creation Award. For instance, Feasibility Awards can support developing a legal pathway to protect a proposed site, or field surveys to determine the presence and abundance of Critically Endangered or Endangered species.
• Protected or Conserved Area Creation Awards
  • Rainforest Trust’s primary awards support the creation and expansion of protected or conserved areas, on land or sea, be it through designation, land titling, purchase or any other recognized methodology (e.g. Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs)). The goal is to empower Project Implementers to facilitate new, lasting and sustainable protected or conserved areas that are in line with community and government needs and desires..

Funding Information

• Feasibility Awards: The average size of Feasibility Awards is $10,000; in exceptional situations, amounts of greater than $20,000 may be considered.
• Protected or Conserved Area Creation Awards of $250,000 and above.

Criteria

• The primary objective must be the creation/expansion of a protected or conserved area.
  • The proposed area(s) must be currently unprotected.
  • The proposed protected or conserved area serves to:
    • Protect globally significant populations of Critically Endangered and Endangered species (e.g. Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) and Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) sites); and/or
    • Protect large areas of Tropical and Sub-tropical High Integrity Forests; and/or
    • Protect Tropical and Sub-tropical habitat critical for mitigating global climate change (e.g. peat swamps, mangroves, páramo).
    • The Project Implementer must be a legally registered non-government organization and authorized to conduct work in the country of the project.
    • The project demonstrates support from relevant governments (including Indigenous governments) and Indigenous Peoples and/or Local Communities, and that relevant Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) has been or will be properly conducted.
    • The protection mechanism, resulting in a change in legal status of the area during the course of the project, will mitigate critical threats to biodiversity and, where applicable, to carbon storage.
    • A management system (management plan and committee) is, or will be, in place that ensures positive and sustained outcomes for the in situ conservation of biodiversity.

For more information, visit Rainforest Trust.