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Applications are now being accepted for Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund and Darwin Initiative.

The British Embassy Manila is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for funding as part of the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund and Darwin Initiative run by the UK’s Department of Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department for International Development (DFID).

Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge

The Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund helps developing countries to tackle the illegal wildlife trade, by addressing demand reduction, strengthening enforcement and criminal justice, and providing alternative livelihoods.

The IWT Challenge Fund is already supporting 47 projects around the world, with a value of £14m. In its 4th Round, the priority areas we are looking to fund include:

1. Developing sustainable livelihoods and economic development, especially by:
   • supporting alternatives to engaging in the illegal wildlife trade
   • encouraging community led wildlife conservation, including retention of benefits within local communities
   • addressing the challenges of human-wildlife conflict
2. Strengthening law enforcement, especially by:
   • addressing corruption
   • building capacity to prevent illicit financial flows from the illegal wildlife trade
   • improving law enforcement and border control in key source, transit and destination countries
3. Reducing demand for IWT products by:
   • using evidence-based interventions to reduce demand for IWT products
   • working with businesses to keep IWT products out of the supply chain
   • establishing partnerships between source, transit and destination countries

The deadline for the first phase of the bidding process is 12 September.

Darwin Initiative

The Darwin Initiative is a UK government grants scheme that helps to protect biodiversity and the natural environment in developing countries. The initiative funds projects that help countries rich in biodiversity but poor in financial resources to meet their objectives under one or more of the following biodiversity conventions:

1. the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
2. the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES)
3. the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing
4. the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

The Darwin Initiative has funded 1,055 projects from 159 countries, with a value of £140m, since 1992.

In its Round 24, the priority areas we are looking to fund include:

Projects expected to address key threats to biodiversity, such as:

• habitat loss or degradation
• climate change
• invasive species
• over-exploitation

In addition, applications that focus on:

• agro-biodiversity that generates alternative livelihoods
• food security and water security
• biodiversity and health
• integrating natural capital related data, information, and knowledge into policy development and decision making
• enhancing the extent and management of protected areas in the marine environment

The deadline for the first phase of the bidding process is 21 September.

Further information, including the guidance for applicants, the application forms and the timetable, can be foundin the links below:

IWT Challenge Fund

Darwin Initiative

Contact Information

Applicants are encouraged to make early contact with the British Embassy Manila by sending their proposal via email. Please email Ms. Joy Anne Icayan JoyAnne.Icayan@fco.gov.uk prior to deadline of submission.