Deadline: 20 May 2020
WWF-Russia serving as the regional implementation team for the hotspot, is accepting letters of inquiry (LOIs) from non-government organizations, community groups, cultural organizations, women’s groups, private companies and other civil society organizations for projects per the requirements listed below.
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation.
The Mountains of Central Asia Biodiversity Hotspot consists of two of Asia’s major mountain ranges, the Pamir and the Tien Shan. Politically, the hotspot’s 860,000 square kilometers include southern Kazakhstan, most of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, eastern Uzbekistan, western China, northeastern Afghanistan, and a small part of Turkmenistan. CEPF’s investment focuses on Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), defined as “sites contributing significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity”, as well as priority species and corridors.
Funding Information
WWF Russia serves as the Regional Implementation Team (RIT) and manages a small grant program to support projects up to $20,000. Recipients of small grants will receive agreements from WWF Russia reflecting the requirements of CEPF.
Priority Activities and Geographic Areas
Grant funded through this solicitation will address one or more of the following themes:
- Gap analysis and optimization of the entire ecosystem and species complex of the Western Tien-Sham, a Unesco World Heritage site, both inside and outside of Protected Areas.
- Threatened and endemic species protection and research, engagement of local nature users and capacity building for more effective functioning of the KBA.
- Conservation in KBAs as a basis for sustainable development in the most populated and productive valleys in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Projects should address any of the following priority geographies:
- Corridor 9: Western Tien-Shan
- Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) 8: Aksu-Zhabagly (UNESCO WHS)
- KBA 12: Aksay
- KBA 13 Almaty Reserve
- KBA 18 Narynkol
Grants cannot be used for:
- The purchase of land, involuntary resettlement of people, or activities that negatively affect physical cultural resources, including those important to local communities.
- Activities adversely affecting indigenous peoples or where these communities have not provided their broad support to the project activities.
- Removal or alteration of any physical cultural property (includes sites having archaeological, paleontological, historical, religious, or unique natural values).
Eligibility Criteria
- Non-governmental and non-commercial civil society organizations, registered community groups and citizen cooperatives, and private universities may apply for funding. It is possible for commercial organizations, such as farms and to apply for funding by special consideration. Individuals must work with civil society organizations rather than apply directly.
- International organizations are encouraged to involve local organizations or communities as project partners and/or explain how local stakeholders will be engaged as part of project implementation.
- Organizations must have their own bank account and be authorized under relevant national laws to receive charitable contributions. Groups without a USD bank account may partner with other organizations that do have a USD bank account.
- Government-owned enterprises or institutions are eligible only if they can demonstrate that the enterprise or institution has:
- a legal personality independent of any government agency or actor;
- the authority to apply for and receive private funds; and
- may not assert a claim of sovereign immunity.
Proposals can be written in English or Russian.
For more information, visit https://www.cepf.net/grants/open-calls-for-proposals/2020-mountains-central-asia-small-grants-Kazakhstan