Deadline: 15-Mar-25
The United Nations Environment Programme is accepting applications for the African Elephant Fund Program to allow African elephant range States to apply for funding for projects aimed at supporting the implementation of the revised African Elephant Action Plan (AEAP 2023).
Priority Objectives
- Priority Objective 1: Reduce Human-Elephant Conflict
- Where African elephants co-exist with people, they can have severe impacts on local livelihoods through presenting a physical threat to individuals as well as through crop raiding, damaging infrastructure and consumption or disruption of scarce water sources. As a consequence, many African elephants are killed annually, both legally and illegally, through formal and informal actions to limit the damage they cause. In some instances, this can cause a decline in already diminished African elephant populations.
- To date, no permanent, universally reliable solutions have been identified to prevent HEC and a variety of mitigation tools must be use.
- AEAP strategies for objective 1
- Strategy 1.1: Apply adaptive management approaches in addressing HEC mitigation, ensuring capacity building for managers and local communities.
- Strategy 1.2: Establish and strengthen participatory processes for mitigating Human-Elephant Conflict.
- Priority Objective 2: Maintaining Elephant Habitats and Restore Connectivity
- Across the continent, elephant habitats are becoming increasingly degraded, fragmented and in some cases lost entirely, due to human-induced threats such as agricultural expansion, logging and mining.
- AEAP strategies for objective 2
- Strategy 2.1: Ensure connections, where possible, between elephant ranges within and among range States.
- Strategy 2.2: Establish and strengthen bilateral and multilateral support for the management of sites and corridors across borders.
- Strategy 2.3: Promote the planning of internal and cross border land use within and among elephant range States.
- Strategy 2.4: Ensure that the current elephant habitats within and between elephant range States are adequately maintained.
- Priority Objective 3: Reducing Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC)
- Elephants can have severe impacts on local livelihoods, such as through crop-raiding and consumption of scarce water sources. Such competition for resources can result in conflict and loss of human life and the lives of domestic stock.
- As a consequence, many elephants are also killed, both legally and illegally, as a result of both formal and informal actions to control the damage they cause.
- AEAP strategies for Objective 3
- Strategy 3.1: Apply adaptive management approaches in addressing human-elephant conflict mitigation, focusing on capacity-building for managers and local communities.
- Strategy 3.2: Establish participatory processes for the mitigation of human-elephant conflict.
- Priority Objective 4: Increasing awareness on elephant conservation and management of Key Stakeholders that include policy makers and local communities among other interest groups
- Essential to the success of the African Elephant Action Plan is the need to stimulate the awareness of and involvement of the wider community in African elephant conservation and management principles.
- Current up-to-date information is often difficult to find, not synthesized, too scientific or not disseminated effectively, therefore making it difficult for people, particularly policy-makers, to fully understand the key issues.
- AEAP strategies for objective 4
- Strategy 4.1: Raising awareness among stakeholders on the conservation of the African elephant.
- Strategy 4.2: Use of indigenous and traditional knowledge for the conservation of the African elephant.
- Strategy 4.3: Promoting information sharing and research findings on the conservation and management of elephants.
- Objective 5: Strengthen range states knowledge on African elephant management
- An understanding of elephant populations and their distribution is essential in order to maximise the impact and effectiveness of elephant conservation and management policies and activities.
- AEAP strategies for objective 5
- Strategy 5.1: Determine and monitor the status of African elephant populations and their habitat within and among elephant range States.
- Strategy 5.2: Develop mechanisms for acquiring and distributing information within and among elephant range States.
- Priority Objective 6: Strengthen cooperation and understanding among range states
- Many of the issues concerning the conservation and management of elephants are shared by many range States.
- African countries have progressively strengthened understanding and cooperation within and among elephant range States on numerous social, economic and environmental issues of mutual interest and concern.
- Regional elephant conservation policies and strategies have been developed for Central, Southern and West Africa.
- Eastern Africa is in discussion about the development of its own Strategy, whilst a number of transboundary plans and projects have been initiated to facilitate the development by neighbouring elephant range States of joint management activities and protection for the species and their habitats.
- AEAP strategies for objective 6
- Strategy 6.1: Foster exchanges across sectors, borders, regions and continents to integrate the needs of elephant conservation and management into national priorities and agendas.
- Strategy 6.2: Use existing political, economic and other frameworks to promote cooperation on elephant conservation and management, such as the African Union Commission, ECOWAS, SADC, EAC, COMIFAC and COMESA.
- Priority Objective 7: Improving local communities’ cooperation and collaboration on African elephant conservation
- It is often the case that communities that share land and resources with African elephants, suffer the costs of living with elephants (such as loss of food crops), while the benefits (such as revenue from tourism) are largely gained by those living further afield.
- It is important to recognise and address this imbalance, as the accrual of greater and more tangible benefits at a local level is more likely to translate directly into increased tolerance for elephants by those communities most affected.
- AEAP strategies for objective 7
- Strategy 7.1: Devise or improve and implement sustainable incentive schemes to benefit local communities.
- Priority Objective 8: African elephant action plan is effectively implemented
- A number of initiatives addressing the AEF are being implemented. The African elephant range States are committed to the following procedures for monitoring, evaluating and reporting on the implementation of the Action Plan.
- AEAP strategies for Objective 8:
- Strategy 8.1: Establish a sustainable funding mechanism to implement the African Elephant Action Plan.
- Strategy 8.2: Develop and implement monitoring indicators. Strategy 8.3: Link the African Elephant Action Plan with the African Elephant Fund.
Funding Information
- The proposed budget will be assessed based on the clarity and rationale of the presented figures using the correct budget template. Where the proposed project procurement of over USD 10,000.
Basic Principles
- Each project proposal shall be evaluated equally based on its own merits.
- The Steering Committee may choose, at its discretion, to seek the independent advice of relevant experts in relation to the evaluation of certain project proposals
- The Steering Committee, while reviewing the project proposals, will take into account the long-term sustainability measures reflected in the proposal, i.e. how the benefits of the project will be sustained beyond the funding period.
- The Steering Committee in its selection process shall consider the track record of the project proponent i.e. reporting capacity, quality of communication, and financial responsibility.
Eligibility Criteria
- Minimum Eligibility Requirements for AEFSC Consideration of Project Proposals
- Project proposal and all accompanying documents required must be submitted on or before the deadline set in the call for proposals.
- All project proposals submitted by range States shall be submitted by the Competent Authority or be accompanied by an endorsement letter from the Competent Authority. The Competent Authority shall be a national government entity responsible for wildlife.
- Project proposals submitted for transboundary projects must have endorsement letters from all the Competent Authorities of the participating range States.
- The project proponent must not have an existing/ongoing project or approved project proposal which has been at a standstill for six months from the date of the submission of the new project proposal.
- The duration of the proposed project should be equal to or greater than 9 months.
For more information, visit UNEP.
