Deadline: 19-Dec-22
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition (MAATE) of Ecuador, and Fundacion Futuro Latinoamericano (FFLA), as the regional implementation team (RIT) for the Tropical Andes Hotspot in Ecuador, are inviting letters of inquiry (LOIs) from non-governmental organization, community groups, private enterprises, universities and other civil society organizations, that are duly accredited and active.
To implement this new third investment phase, CEPF has awarded the role of RIT to FFLA. The RIT’s role is to support conservation initiatives in the key biodiversity areas (KBA) and its conservation corridors in Ecuador. To implement this new third investment phase, CEPF has awarded the role of RIT to FFLA. The RIT’s role is to support conservation initiatives in the key biodiversity areas (KBA) and its conservation corridors in Ecuador.
Priorities
- Strengthen protection and management of 52 priority KBAs to foster participatory governance, green recovery from COVID19, climate change resilience, species conservation, and financial sustainability.
- Facilitate the establishment, upgrading, and/or expansion of public and private protected areas.
- Prepare and implement participatory management plans and other relevant KBA management instruments that support broad stakeholder collaboration.
- Strengthen land tenure, management, and governance of indigenous territories and campesino communities.
- Enable local communities to enter and remain in incentive programs that benefit biodiversity conservation.
- Promote and strengthen bio-enterprises that support biodiversity conservation and provide gender-equitable benefits to local communities.
- In the seven priority corridors, collaborate with public and private sector stakeholders to enable biodiversity conservation, a green recovery from COVID19, and environmental, financial, and social sustainability, in benefit of the priority KBAs.
- Support participatory land-use and development plans and governance frameworks to foster a shared vision of conservation and sustainable development to guide future investments.
- Support the preparation of policies, programs, and projects that foster biodiversity conservation, particularly at sub-national levels, and that leverage funding for their implementation.
- Establish and strengthen traditional and innovative financial mechanisms and leverage financing initiatives for conservation, including payments for ecosystem services, carbon credits and compensation mechanisms.
- Promote and scale up bio-enterprises to benefit communities, biodiversity, connectivity and ecosystem services.
- Promote private sector actors and their associations to integrate conservation into their business practices and to implement corporate social responsibility policies and voluntary conservation commitments.
- Integrate biodiversity conservation objectives into policies and programs related to mining and infrastructure and promote related demonstration projects.
- Strengthen local capacity, facilitate public consultation, and support partnerships to implement mitigation measures (assess, avoid, mitigate and monitor impacts) in projects that present a risk to priority KBAs, with a focus on mining and infrastructure.
- Safeguard priority globally threatened species.
- Prepare, implement, and institutionalize conservation action plans that include climate change resilience for 183 Critically Endangered (CR) and Endangered (EN) species, and for select genera.
- Cultivate a welltrained, wellcoordinated and resilient civil society sector at the local, corridor, and hotspot levels to achieve CEPF’s conservation outcomes.
- Strengthen the institutional capacities (administrative, financial, fundraising, communications, governance, and project management) of CEPF’s strategic partners to implement biodiversity conservation programs.
- Strengthen the strategic communication capacity of the media and civil society networks to create conservation awareness among the public and decision makers.
- Strengthen the capacities and involvement of women in CEPF initiatives.
- Improve stakeholder cooperation and strengthen alliances, and foster information exchange and lessons learned.
Themes
- The CEPF investment strategy includes five cross-cutting themes that are essential to achieve CEPF’s overall conservation objectives in the hotspot. CEPF will seek proposals that clearly integrate one or more of the cross-cutting themes. CEPF recommends that applicants clearly identify which conservation targets and cross-cutting themes their projects will aim to contribute to. CEPF expects this cross-cutting theme to be integrated coherently into proposed activities, rather than be included as a standalone activity.
- Recovery of COVID-19 impacted KBAs, and their economies based on green objectives.
- Mainstreaming of gender equality into conservation strategies and projects.
- Strengthening of capacities of Indigenous peoples and local civil society.
- Fostering long-term financial sustainability.
- Contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Funding Information
- This call covers funding for large grants that are defined as greater than US$50,000. Please note that the average grant at CEPF is US$140,000. CEPF decides on the final amount to be awarded based on the scope of the conservation results expected to be achieved.
- CEPF expects large grants under this call to be contracted and start implementation around June to September 2023.
Eligibility Criteria
- Non-governmental organizations, community groups, universities and private enterprises may apply for funding. Individuals must work with civil society organizations to develop LOIs rather than apply directly.
- To qualify for a CEPF grant, the applicant must not be a government agency or institution. Government-owned enterprises or institutions are eligible only if they can establish that they fulfil the following criteria:
- Have a legal personality independent of any government agency or actor.
- Have the authority to apply for and receive private funds.
- May not assert a claim of sovereign immunity.
- Applicants based outside of the eligible countries may submit a LOI as long as the project deliverables are focused on the conservation priorities within this call.
- Joint projects with other organizations are eligible, with one lead organization submitting the application and project partners with clear roles stated in the application.
For more information, visit https://www.cepf.net/grants/open-calls-for-proposals/2022-tropical-andes-3-ecuador