Deadline: 23-Sep-21
World Resources Institute (WRI), One Tree Planted (OTP), and Realize Impact invite eligible companies and non-profit organizations to submit tree planting and growing project proposals in the 31 African countries that are members of the AFR100 Initiative.
Goals
The goals of this RFP, which provides information on proposal requirements and project selection procedures, are to:
- Fund an initial cohort of the top 100 African tree restoration projects and enterprises.
- Contribute to the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration by identifying long-term partners and intermediaries in the financial sector to help expand AFR100 efforts to restore 100 million hectares of land across Africa.
Funding Information
- Early-stage projects and enterprises can apply for $50,000 to $150,000 USD, and growth-stage projects and enterprises can apply for $250,000 to $500,000 USD.
- Initial funding will be disbursed to projects starting in January 2022. Loans given out to enterprises will be repaid over 5 to 10 years, and grants will be disbursed over 5 years.
Eligibility Criteria
- Projects must be located in AFR100 countries
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- Applications from businesses and restoration organizations must be based in the 31 countries participating in AFR100. Applications must be written in either English or French.
- Company / organization requirements
- The applicant is a private sector operator, nonprofit, or community development organization.
- The applicant is financially sound or clearly outlines how funding could enable it to become financially sound.
- The applicant has the appropriate technical and financial capacity and expertise to manage and implement projects successfully and deliver technical and financial reporting as requested by WRI/OTP/Realize Impact.
- The applicant explicitly commits and agrees to share information (other than commercial/confidential), methodologies and lessons learned with the consortium.
- Only companies and projects that plant or grow trees using the following techniques are eligible for funding:
- Mangrove Tree Restoration – specific interventions in the hydrological flows and/or vegetative cover to create or enhance the ecological function of a degraded mangrove tree site
- Assisted Natural Regeneration – the exclusion of threats (i.e. grazing, fire, invasive plants) that had previously prevented the natural regrowth of a forested area from seeds already present in the soil, or from natural seed dispersal from nearby trees. This does not include any active tree planting. Ideally, the specific method(s) of threat control intervention(s) used would be specified so that the relative effectiveness can be evaluated (i.e., whether fencing was installed to control grazing, how often invasive plants were removed, etc.
- Agroforestry – the intentional mixing and cultivation of woody perennial species (trees, shrubs, bamboos) alongside agricultural crops in a way that improves the agricultural productivity and ecological function of a site
- Reforestation – the planting of seedlings over an area with little or no forest canopy to meet specific goals
- Riparian Restoration – Specific interventions in the hydrological flows and vegetative cover to improve the ecological function of a degraded wetland or riparian area.
- Enrichment Planting – The strategic re-establishment of key tree species in a forest that is ecologically degraded due to lack of certain species, without which the forest is unable to naturally sustain itself.
- Applied Nucleation / Tree Islands – A form of enrichment planting where trees are planted in groups, clusters, or even rows, dispersed throughout an area, to encourage natural regeneration in the matrix between the non-planted areas.
- Silvopasture – The intentional mixing and cultivation of woody perennial species (trees, shrubs, bamboos) on pastureland where tree cover was absent in a way that improves the agricultural productivity and ecological function of a site for continued use as pasture.
- Seed Dispersal/Direct Seeding – The active dispersal of seeds (preferably ecologically diverse, native seed mixes) that will allow for natural regeneration to occur, provided the area is protected from disturbances. This may be done by humans or drones- implies active collection and dispersal, not natural dispersal by natural seed dispersers that is part of natural regeneration processes. This is a differentiated category from planting young trees.
For more information, visit https://www.africa.terramatch.org/