Deadline: 26-Feb-24
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) led Equator Initiative releases a global call for nominations for the Equator Prize 2024.
The Equator Initiative is a United Nations-led partnership that brings together governments, civil society, grassroots organizations, and businesses to foster resilient communities by recognizing and advancing local nature-based solutions for sustainable development. The Equator Initiative creates opportunities and platforms to share knowledge and good practices, develops capacities of Indigenous peoples and local communities, informs policy through convening multi-stakeholder dialogues, and fosters enabling environments to replicate and scale up community action.
The Equator Prize 2024 will be awarded to outstanding Indigenous peoples and local community initiatives that advance innovative nature-based solutions for sustainable development, in alignment with the newly adopted Global Biodiversity Framework. The winners will join a prestigious network of 285 leading community-based organizations from around 89 countries that have been awarded the Equator Prize since 2002.
This year’s Equator Prize will recognize innovative initiatives that showcase how action on nature, led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, can provide effective climate solutions, and demonstrate effective pathways to transform their global systems for people and Planet. Winning initiatives will be honored for their successes in protecting, restoring, and/or sustainably managing nature for nature-positive development outcomes.
Thematic Priorities
- Thematic priorities include:
- Nature for Climate Mitigation. Actions to protect, conserve and restore forests, mangroves, peatlands, soils, oceans, and marine ecosystems. This includes actions to:
- Maintain intact ecosystems as they sequester better – forests, mangroves, peatlands and soils are the greatest natural carbon stores
- Uphold Indigenous Peoples’ land tenure, governance, rights and traditional knowledge as they are essential to protect forests and key ecosystems
- Protect and restore ecosystems as an urgent priority
- Achieve forests’ protection through participatory monitoring and mapping at large scale
- Nature for Climate Adaptation and Resilience. Actions to integrate nature into planning for water security, food security, disaster risk reduction, enhanced livelihoods and community resilience. Building climate resilient food systems, and developing regenerative agriculture and forestry practices to adapt to climate change. This includes actions to:
- Transform their food systems to be more climate resilient, less carbon-intensive and adapt to climate change
- Build community resilience as key to adapt and tackle disaster risk reduction
- Tackle water security since it is key for life – protecting and restoring ecosystems is critical for water at all levels, including continental
- Protect nature to ensure disease prevention
- Nature for a Just Transition. Actions to green the economy in a way that is as fair and inclusive as possible to all society, including Indigenous Peoples and local communities, creating decent work opportunities and leaving no one behind. Showing how solutions led at the local-level can contribute to a global value shift, including an economic and finance shift. Harnessing circular economy and reusing materials to reduce the need for resource extraction and minimize pressure on wildlife and threats to biodiversity. Shaping a nature-positive future by rethinking business as usual as an opportunity to sustainably manage and regenerate nature and catalyze zero-carbon economies. This includes actions to:
- Show that Indigenous Peoples and local communities can create and lead successful enterprises
- Prove that effective local green solutions can reduce inequalities, improve livelihoods, enhance responsible production and consumption, create inclusive, resilient and zero-carbon economies, while bringing health benefits
- Demonstrate that micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) show viable solutions to climate and opportunities for nature regeneration and economic transformation
- Initiate new models of climate finance and funding mechanisms can be put in place to fund resilience, adaptation and climate action
- Respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights as essential to building a new sustainable and thriving economy
- Special consideration will be given to nominees championing youth and women-led climate action.
- Local nature-based solutions for sustainable development
- The Equator Prize 2024 nomination process offers community-based initiatives the opportunity to share their work on the Equator Initiative’s web portal of local nature-based solutions for sustainable development. The platform connects communities around the world and shares local solutions that work for people and the planet. Participation in this platform is optional when submitting nominations for the Equator Prize.
- Nature for Climate Mitigation. Actions to protect, conserve and restore forests, mangroves, peatlands, soils, oceans, and marine ecosystems. This includes actions to:
Funding Information
- Each Equator Prize winner will receive USD 10,000 and will be supported to participate in a series of policy dialogues and special events in the fall of 2024.
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible for the Equator Prize, the following requirements apply:
- The initiative must have been in existence for at least three years, and/or the actions taken must have been in place for at least three years.
- The nominee must be either a local community-based group, operating in a rural area, based in a country receiving support from the United Nations Development Programme (for a list of eligible countries, see the list below); or an indigenous peoples’ community in any country, operating in a rural area.
- The actions taken must be nature-based, and must deliver benefits related to two or more Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Eligible Initiatives
- Community-based associations or organizations
- Community-based enterprises and cooperatives
- Women’s associations or organizations
- Indigenous or ethnic minority groups or associations
- Youth groups or associations
- Non-governmental organizations
For more information, visit UNDP.