Deadline: 30-Jun-25
The European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) has launched the Conservation Project Funding Program.
EOCA exists to enable its membership from the outdoor sector, and wider community, to create a positive impact on nature, biodiversity and wild places. Securing the planet’s biosphere for future generations, and working towards a world with a happy, healthy and vibrant population that is connected to, and protective of, the natural world around everyone, is vital if they are to reduce the risk the membership faces from the loss of nature and biodiversity.
Categories
- EOCA’s focus areas lie within the following 2 categories of action and 11 specific response options:
- Conserve Ecosystems
- Area Based Conservation
- Halt Conversion of Intact Ecosystems
- Forest Conservation
- Restore Ecosystems
- Forest landscape restoration
- Restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems
- Restoration of inland water systems
- Rewilding
- Restore Soil Health
- Mangrove conservation and restoration
- Wetland conservation and restoration
- Restoration of blue carbon ecosystems
- Conserve Ecosystems
Funding Information
- Nonprofit organisations can apply to EOCA for grants of up to €30,000, to implement a conservation project of up to two years in duration.
Eligible Projects
- EOCA scores projects under both of the following headings:
- Conserve and/or restore threatened key species, habitats or broader ecosystems in ‘wild’ areas, whilst helping mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss
- Projects must address specific issues and root causes. What are the identified threats to the species/habitat/ecosystem? What are the impacts of these threats? How are these threats going to be eliminated, alleviated or better managed?
- Projects must include practical hands-on work, such as habitat restoration, removal of invasive species, anti-poaching measures, etc.
- Reconnect people with nature
- The outdoor community plays a key role in enabling people to get outdoors, experience wild places, and build a connection with the natural world. This increase in nature connection is vital for the whole of society as the underlying causes of biodiversity loss – identified by the IPBES report – are the disconnection of people from nature and dominion over nature and other people. Therefore, all projects must:
- Work towards restoring and fostering a deep connection between people and nature: including deepening the understanding and appreciation of nature, to the benefit of human health, well-being and the natural world.
- Utilise rights-based approaches: Applying human rights principles to conservation and other measures, and accounting for the rights of nature and the rights of nonhuman entities. Including recognising the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and women. Such rights may include, but are not limited to, land and territories, water, food, health, and a safe and clean environment.
- Ensure local people are fully engaged: If local communities, and also communities of interest, are not involved, they may not feel any need or desire to ensure that the good work that has been started continues into the future. Obviously, if specialist work needs to be carried out, relevant experts may need to be brought in, but wherever possible, projects will involve the local community, giving them ownership of the project and its outcomes, and contributing to their livelihoods during and after the project.
- The outdoor community plays a key role in enabling people to get outdoors, experience wild places, and build a connection with the natural world. This increase in nature connection is vital for the whole of society as the underlying causes of biodiversity loss – identified by the IPBES report – are the disconnection of people from nature and dominion over nature and other people. Therefore, all projects must:
- Conserve and/or restore threatened key species, habitats or broader ecosystems in ‘wild’ areas, whilst helping mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss
Eligibility Criteria
- Nonprofit organisations can apply to EOCA to implement a conservation project of up to two years in duration in any country around the world except North America (US and Canada – where the Conservation Alliance provides funding for conservation efforts from the North American outdoor industry).
- The projects to successfully win funding will be chosen from the shortlist via a public vote and/or an EOCA’s members vote.
- The public vote involves some effort on the part of the projects involved, to mobilise supporters and generate votes for their project over a two-week period. However, the process also gives projects a very valuable opportunity to raise the profile and awareness of their organisation and its work in an international arena. The public vote provides the opportunity to reach thousands of people that might not otherwise know about the projects.
- Project applications must:
- protect a threatened species or habitat;
- reconnect people with nature; and
- involve hands-on practical conservation work.
Ineligibility Criteria
- The types of projects EOCA is unable to support are:
- Projects in urban areas.
- 100% community or social projects.
- 100% research/PhDs/MSCs/ expeditions/conference attendance. Field based, or “on the ground” research projects with a direct and demonstrable impact on a specific ecosystem’s protection will be considered.
- 100% education projects.
- Building projects.
- Installation of alternative energy.
For more information, visit EOCA.