Applications Invited for Biodiversity Story Grants 2025

About the Organization

Created in 2004, EJN is now a very international community of reporters and media retailers in just about each area of the world.

Environmental and local weather change reporting is now extra pressing than ever, however journalists face myriad and mounting challenges in protecting these matters. The media business is in disaster, and misinformation is on the rise. Reporters working for cash-strapped information companies typically haven’t got the assets to analysis a narrative correctly; freelancers, even much less so. That’s the place EJN is available in.

Earth Journalism Network (EJN) is right here to make sure that media in every single place know learn how to inform it.

Our mission: to strengthen native journalism that serves communities and policymakers on the frontlines of local weather and environmental crises, enabling them to form options, maintain energy to account and demand motion.

About the Grant

EJN is providing reporting grants to journalists to assist the manufacturing of in-depth tales on biodiversity.  

Overview:

For years, scientists have raised the alarm over the accelerating biodiversity disaster. Wildlife has declined on common 73% globally over the previous 50 years, and a million species throughout land and sea are susceptible to extinction within the coming a long time. From continued funding in corporations linked to deforestation to the bleaching of coral reefs because of local weather change, the causes of this biodiversity loss are multitudinous and in the end human. Yet the world is shifting at a snail’s tempo to guard what stays. Following the dearth of quorum and breakdown of talks through the sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in Cali, Colombia final yr, negotiations continued in Rome, Italy, in February 2025 with the purpose of finalizing concrete outcomes.

Despite a breakthrough settlement on a technique to mobilize $200bn to help low- and middle-income international locations to preserve their biodiversity, and tears of aid from COP16 President Susana Muhamad, there have been considerable warnings that steps made at resumed negotiations weren’t the immense leaps wanted to sluggish the present charge of biodiversity loss.

The Global Biodiversity Framework’s (GBF) 23 goal deadlines are a mere 5 years away, practically three-quarters of nations have nonetheless not submitted their revised nationwide biodiversity motion plans, and a latest report revealed that greater than half of the international locations which have submitted their plans  haven’t aligned them with the GBF’s goal of defending 30% of land and seas by 2030.

To make sure that native audiences have entry to trusted, well timed and correct info on the present vital state of biodiversity, EJN’s Biodiversity Media Initiative is providing 5-10 story grants to extend the standard and amount of biodiversity protection, and to focus on the overwhelming threats to our pure world in addition to promising or confirmed options.

In addition to funding, chosen journalists will obtain assist from skilled mentors all through their venture. 

Story themes:

For this grant alternative, we’re curious about pitches for formidable tales that make use of progressive multimedia, collaborative, cross-border or investigative approaches to deepen protection of biodiversity or conservation matters. Proposals that use information journalism and geojournalism are additionally inspired.

This yr, themes we’re curious about supporting embrace (however should not restricted to):

• Under-reported tales of commerce and trafficking of endangered wildlife and its impacts
• New strategies to trace environmental crimes akin to unlawful mining and logging, and different drivers of biodiversity loss 
• New or little-known threats to species range, e.g. cryptocurrency mining, seabed mining
• Biodiversity credit or biodiversity offsets
• Biodiversity and conservation in city areas
• OECMs (different efficient area-based conservation measures)
• Innovative, doubtlessly scalable conservation options led by communities, governments or companies
• Efforts to spice up “green” and “blue” economies to allow growth that conserves relatively than exploits the setting
• New or proposed insurance policies which may very well be both dangerous or helpful to biodiversity
• Benefit-sharing from digital sequence info and its potentialities and dangers
• Misinformation or misunderstandings round sure species

As we want to increase international consciousness about new threats or options, proposals that concentrate on matters or tales that haven’t been broadly coated are most well-liked. Issues which have already obtained numerous media protection or do not present distinctive angles are much less more likely to be chosen.

Eligibility

For the needs of this grant name, we’re solely accepting functions for tales targeted on international locations categorised as low- or middle-income by the World Bank. Those international locations are listed here, although journalists from any nation can apply.

We want to hear from candidates primarily based in international locations wherein we’ve got not provided grants to beforehand. We encourage functions particularly from West Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, and particularly from the next international locations: Dominican Republic, Honduras and Kyrgyzstan.

We are particularly curious about supporting initiatives in biodiversity-rich areas of the world, or initiatives in international locations going through unprecedented biodiversity loss.

Groups of journalists are eligible. However, the application should be made within the title of 1 lead applicant. Lead candidates are accountable for speaking with EJN and receiving funds on the group’s behalf, if awarded.

For the needs of this grant alternative, we are going to solely be accepting functions in English. Unfortunately, we do not need the capability to think about functions in different languages right now. Applicants should both have a working understanding of English or have a translator out there to help with communication with Internews employees.

Applications are open to journalists working in any medium (on-line, print, tv, radio) and different skilled media practitioners with skilled reporting expertise. We welcome functions from early-career journalists and skilled reporters with a monitor document of protecting biodiversity points. We encourage functions from freelance reporters and employees from all varieties of media organizations—worldwide, nationwide, native and community-based.

Applicants are required to be clear about the usage of generative AI instruments, if any, to revise their proposals. EJN reserves the fitting to disqualify candidates from consideration if they’ve been discovered to have engaged in unethical or improper skilled conduct, together with, however not restricted to, submitting AI-generated content material as their very own.

How to Apply

Application Deadline: April 29, 2025, 11:59 PM (Pacific/Niue)

Accepted languages for Applications: English

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