The National Geographic Society awards grants for research, conservation, education, and storytelling through its Committee for Research and Exploration. All proposed projects must be novel and exploratory and be of broad interest.
The foundation's overall goal for the Great Lakes region is to prevent or reduce biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to sustain ecosystem benefits for human well-being. MacArthur focuses on funding projects in the Lake Victoria, Upper Nile, Tanganyika, Malawi/Nyasa, and Turkana/Omo Basins. Grant making is informed by extensive consultations with a range of stakeholders. MacArthur believes that understanding ecosystem benefits is necessary, but insufficient to spur effective conservation responses at the appropriate scales.
Hydrological regimes, including inter- and intra-annual water level fluctuations, are key drivers of productivity and structure in freshwater ecosystems in Africa, where inland fisheries are a vital source of income and protein. Using a synthesis of seventeen standardized food web models of thirteen African lakes and reservoirs, this study explored the relationship between inter- and intra-annual water level fluctuations and sixteen ecological attributes associated with ecosystem configuration, productivity and maturity.
Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing has been reported in many publications;_this_research project_provides an overview of the extent of IUU fishing on the African Great Lakes. Stock has been taken of fisheries regulations and legislations in the riparian countries to understand the diversity of the interpretation of illegal fishing operations. A summary has been presented of the regulations governing the target species of the different fisheries.
Water has long been ignored by international climate conferences. However, COP21 (Paris, 2015) and COP22 (Marrakech, 2016) saw the organization of official high-level events on water and climate and the launch of a Global Climate Action Agenda (GCAA) dedicated to water, with four Alliances created to implement it: the Global Alliances for Water and Climate (GAWC), gathering the Basin Alliance ( Paris Pact ), the Business Alliance, the Alliance of Megacities and the Desalination Alliance. The International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO) is in charge of the Secretariat of the GAWC.
This research project analyzes gender-based violence in cross-border fish trade in the GLR using a human rights perspective. A human rights perspective provides an understanding of the socio-economic conditions facing women fishers in the GLR. Expanding on established research on fishing rights of marginalized people, this analysis highlights human rights issues that have been less documented: gender-based cross-border violence and threats to personal security in the GLR.
Lake Malawi is a global biodiversity hotspot with exceptional fish diversity. While fisheries and their associated value chains are a source of food security and livelihoods for the lakeshore community, population growth and increased commercialization of the fisheries have resulted in the depletion of high value target species such as Chambo (Oreochromis Nyasalapia spp.).
The Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative focuses on the economic benefits of land and land-based ecosystems. The initiative highlights the value of sustainable land management and provides a global approach for analysis of the economics of land degradation. It aims to make economics of land degradation an integral part of policy strategies and decision making by increasing the political and public awareness of the costs and benefits of land and land-based ecosystems.
The Disney Conservation Fund supports the study of wildlife, the protection of habitats, the development of community conservation and education programs in critical ecosystems and experiences that connect kids to nature across the globe. Since it was founded in 1995, the Disney Conservation Fund has helped protect more than 400 million species and has given more than $45 million to conserve wildlife and wild places through its annual conservation grants program.
Cage fish farming is growing fish in net enclosures suspended in water at high density in low volume (LVHD) or low density in high volume (HVLD) cages while maintaining free water exchange between the enclosure and the water body. Cage fish farming has increased in the African Great Lakes (AGL) region, since the beginning of the 21st century and has in less than 20 years, demonstrated capacity to increase fish production to more than 40 kg m-3 compared to ~5 kg m-3 from ponds which started more than 60 years ago.
The Crowder-Messersmith Conservation Fund helps small, local conservation and/or education projects in developing countries. Its grants provide seed money to communities and individuals whose projects have not attracted major support from other sources. The Fund honors Orville Crowder and Don Messersmith, two leaders in nature tourism, as a means to further global nature conservation.
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) provides grants to nongovernmental and private sector organizations to help protect biodiversity hotspots, Earth's most biologically rich yet threatened areas. Grant recipients range from small farming cooperatives and community associations to international organizations. Every grant helps implement an investment strategy found in the ecosystem profile for each region where we invest.
Proposals that target direct global environmental benefits and meet the following eligibility criteria are welcome:
The conservation strategy for the Great Lakes Region (GLR) aims to:
The Conservation Leadership Programme provides conservation awards on an annual basis to support the work of early career conservationists. There are three grant levels to allow teams to scale up their initial projects: Starting with a Future Conservationist Award, teams are supported to undertake small-scale research and awareness-raising projects.
The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) was specially formulated to stimulate the necessary reforms in the agriculture sector and bring agriculture toward the support of socio-economic growth and sustainable development. CAADP is Africa 's policy framework for agriculture and agriculture-led development. It is an integral part of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
CoBRA is a participatory assessment methodology, largely qualitative, which identifies the locally-specific factors contributing to the resilience of households and communities facing different types of shocks and stresses. CoBRA aims to understand resilience from community and household perspectives. This tool does not use any preconceived components of resilience, but rather helps local populations describe and explain them on their own, based on their past experience, by:
In response to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the Community Water Initiative (CWI) was launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2004 in seven countries (Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya, Mauritania, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Uganda), and was recently expanded to three new countries (Mali, Niger and Senegal).
Commitments to deliver climate finance to developing countries are longstanding. Developed countries pledged to deliver finance approaching $30 billion between 2010 and 2012, in the context of a commitment to mobilise $100 billion per year from public and private sources by 2020 in the Copenhagen Accord of 2009. These commitments were affirmed in the Cancun Agreements of 2010.
The African Great Lakes region has been experiencing extreme rainfall. Sometimes, it might result in floods or it might be very dry weather. But by 2050 the whole region will be experiencing significant changes in the water cycle. Water is the lifeblood of this region with large lakes and rivers. The state of water resources affects all natural, social and economic systems. Water serves as the fundamental link between the climate system, human society and the environment. Climate change is severely impacting the hydrological cycle and consequently, water management in the region.
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working to conserve birds, their habitats, and global biodiversity by working with people toward the sustainable use of natural resources. The BirdLife Africa Partnership is a growing network of organizations with more than 500 staff and 87,000 members.