Call for Proposals: #Youth4Biodiversity 2.0 Project (Philippines)

Deadline: 31-Oct-23

#Y4B 2.0 is calling all eligible youth organizations to submit project proposals on marine and wetlands/peatlands ecosystem conservation.

The #Youth4Biodiversity (#Y4B) 2.0 project is the Foundation for the Philippine Environment’s (FPE) initiative focusing on the youth sector as positive active change agents to address biodiversity loss and the climate crisis. It builds on the gains of the first phase which was designed to get school- or community- based youth groups to join in the cause for biodiversity conservation by providing information and knowledge products related to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development (BCSD) as well as online platforms for exchanges and learnings.

The Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) stated that young people’s interests are often disregarded in public policy. The refusal of adults to join hands with the millennials, presumptions of their intellectual capacity, and insignificance of experience has broken down bridges and distract them from effective dialogue. Young people cannot engage in the decision-making processes if they are isolated from consultation, policy formulation, and policy implementation through which decisions are made.

#Y4B 2.0 also supports the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which supports the achievement of the SDGs and builds on the fifteenth Conference of the Parties’ (COP 15) previous Strategic Plans which sets out an ambitious pathway to reach the global vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050.

Focusing on the UN ESCAP report’s findings, the relevant SDGs for #Y4B 2.0 are the following:

• SDG 13: Climate Action: The Asia-Pacific region is moving in the wrong direction on Climate Action. There is only sparse evidence of this goal, as only two out of five targets can be measured for the regional assessment.
• SDG 14: Life below Water: Only three out of the ten SDG targets for life below water are measurable in the Asia-Pacific region.
• SDG 15: Life on Land: The overall progress of life on land is slow in Asia and the Pacific. Fewer than half of the targets are measurable, and the region is likely to achieve only one of them.

This call for project proposals will prioritize projects focused on Marine, Wetlands, or Peatlands Ecosystems Conservation.

Thematic Areas and Pathways

• SDG 13: Climate Action
  • Pathways
    • Education
    • Influence
    • Enterprise, and
    • Direct Conservation
  • Thematic Areas
    • 13.2 Climate Change Policies
    • 13.3 Climate Change Awareness
    • 13.b Climate Change Planning and Management
• SDG 14: Life Below Water
  • Pathways
    • Education
    • Influence
    • Enterprise, and
    • Direct Conservation
    • Action
  • Thematic Areas
    • 14.1 Marine Pollution
    • 14.2 Marine and Coastal Ecosystems
    • 14.4 Sustainable Fishing
    • 14.b Small-scale Artisanal Fishing
    • Action
• SDG 15: Life on Land
  • Thematic Areas
    • 15.1 Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecosystems, including wetlands and peatlands
    • 15.2 Sustainable Forest Management
    • 15.4 Conservation of Mountain Ecosystems
    • 15.5 Loss of Biodiversity
    • 15.9 Biodiversity in National and Local Planning

Funding Information

• Qualified youth groups can design approaches and solutions to understand and address challenges to biodiversity conservation, in collaboration with other sectors. If the proposed solutions are selected, the youth group will be awarded a grant between Php50,000 to a maximum of Php100,000 to implement their projects.

Eligibility Criteria

• FPE supports civil society/non-government organizations implement BCSD activities in the country. It strengthens the capacities of these organizations to plan and implement holistic and long-term programs that can be coordinated and linked to national environmental priorities.
• Eligible Youth Organizations
  • Overall Criteria for Qualified Organizations:
    • The intervention is led by a youth organization
    • The youth organization has the potential to sustain the impacts and outcomes of their initiative.
• Categories of Youth Organizations (YOs)
  • Private School-Based Youth Organizations
  • Public/State School-Based Youth Organizations
  • Community-Based Youth Organizations
  • Registered School-Based or Community-Based Youth Organizations
• Qualifications
  • Filipino Entity and Schools, Universities, Non-Government Organization, Peoples Organization, Indigenous Peoples Organization.
  • For Non-Government Organizations, non-registered, and/or academic institutions: Must have legal identity registered by a government accrediting agency (i.e., SEC, DOLE, CDA, DSWD, etc.) with at least three years in operation and a good track record in implementing projects.
  • Continuously in operation for a minimum of three years immediately preceding the application for grant support.

For more information, visit Foundation for the Philippine Environment.