Applications are open for the EDGE Protected and Conserved Area Fund 2023. Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Rainforest Trust and an alliance of conservation NGOs are proud to announce a bold new US$ 5,000,000 partnership to protect and conserve habitat for the world’s most threatened and evolutionarily distinct species.

The EDGE Protected and Conserved Area Fund will provide grants to local Civil Society Organizations that are focused on creating or expanding protected and conserved areas for EDGE species – species that are evolutionarily distinct and at the highest risk of extinction – across the tropics and subtropics.

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The EDGE Protected and Conserved Fund is a partnership between Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, On The Edge Conservation, Re:wild, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Synchronicity Earth and the Zoological Society of London with funding provided by Rainforest Trust.

Awards from Conserved Area Fund

The EDGE Protected and Conserved Area Fund is making two types of grants available:

• Rapid Feasibility Awards: to encourage conservationists and researchers to evaluate important potential sites for creating new Protected Areas. Awards average $5,000 – $10,000.
• Full Awards: projects with a clear focus on creating new protected or conserved areas or the expansion of existing protected or conserved areas.

Eligibility for Conserved Area Fund

Applications for Full Awards should meet the following criteria:

• Clear focus on creating a new protected area or the expansion of existing protected areas. This can be through land purchase, designation as a National Park or other officially recognised protected area, conversion of logging concessions to reserve, long-term land lease, or land-titling or other mechanism of providing for indigenous ownership and management with the formal stipulation that the indigenous or community lands will be managed for conservation.
• Establishment of Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) may be considered for project eligibility on a case-by-case basis where they provide for effective long-term conservation of habitat and otherwise meet the criteria.
• Proposed sites must be currently unprotected. Use IUCN’s World Database of Protected Areas or other nationally available data to determine if the area is already recognized as protected (category 1-6). Exceptions: Biosphere Reserves, World Heritage Sites or RAMSAR Reserves are not considered to be officially protected by virtue of these designations.
• Projects should have endorsement from project stakeholders, especially local communities. All projects are expected to obtain Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) from any impacted communities.
• Projects should seek to develop sustainable financing mechanisms for long-term management of the proposed protected area.
• Projects must meet the following conditions:
  • Be in the tropics of subtropics.
  • Focus on any CR or EN EDGE species (please consult the curated list) that is currently unprotected in any part of its range; or a VU EDGE species that overlaps with other CR or EN unprotected species.
  • Address priority actions from an existing action plan, including IUCN SSC species action plans, national action plans, or EDGE Survival Blueprint, specifically those calling for the establishment of protected areas for key populations.
  • There must be recent, verifiable evidence that the named species occurs within the proposed site.

Applications for Rapid Feasibility Awards should meet the following criteria:

• Applications should exhibit clear intent to establish a new Protected Area and one or more of the following:
  • Evaluate land tenure of an unprotected site;
  • Evaluate the presence and abundance of CR and EN species within an unprotected site;
  • Investigate legal processes for potentially designating the site as a nationally recognized protected area or acquiring the long-term lease of gazetted land, where appropriate;
  • Negotiate land prices and gauge willingness to sell privately owned land; or
  • Assessments of community and government interest in protected area establishment.

Application of Conserved Area Fund

The application process follows the standard procedure for Rainforest Trust opportunities. To be considered, interested organizations must:

• Complete and submit a Concept Note and GIS file. A template for the Concept Note can be found here. The GIS file should show the boundaries of the proposed Protected or Conserved Area and be a Shapefile, KML or KMZ file.
• Moreover, Complete and submit an Application. Based on your Concept Note, if your project fits the criteria, you will be contacted to begin work on a more detailed Application.

Applications will be reviewed by a panel of representatives of the EDGE Alliance. But final approval rests with Rainforest Trust’s Board of Directors. Approved Full Awards typically start no earlier than 6 months after the above Application deadlines. Once Applications for Rapid Feasibility Awards are approved, they can begin soon thereafter.

Applications for Rapid Awards will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Applications for Full Awards are due by 08 May 2023.

Lastly, Applications should be submitted to [email protected]

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Lastly, It is important to visit the official website link found below to access the application form.

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