Call for Project Proposals: Mountain Future Award 2025 – YOA

Deadline: October 31, 2025

Applications are open for the Mountain Future Award 2025. In celebration of International Mountain Day 2025, which contributes to the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation 2025, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) invites establishments, established organizations and people over the age of 18 to submit proposals for transformative initiatives that construct resilience to glacier-associated impacts and strengthen sustainable mountain economies and livelihoods, for an opportunity to win the 2025 Mountain Future Award.

The Mountain Future Award, sponsored by a Mountain Partnership member, will acknowledge the three finest challenge proposals—one per class. Winners shall be chosen by mid-November, and the award shall be introduced in the course of the official International Mountain Day occasion in December 2025.

There are three profitable classes:

• Innovation – Projects that embody technological (together with digital), social, coverage, monetary and/or institutional improvements that tackle advanced social, financial and environmental challenges in mountain areas.  
• Adaptation and/or mitigation – Projects that apply adaptation or/and mitigation methods tailor-made to mountain ecosystems and communities. These might embody sustainable water administration, information and local weather monitoring, resilient agrifood methods, nature-based mostly approaches, the mixing of Indigenous Peoples’ information or conventional strategies, and the promotion of round financial system.  
• Youth – Projects that emphasize youth management, akin to being youth-led and/or youth-centered. This contains initiatives that promote common and accessible coaching for younger folks in mountain areas and empower youth as brokers of change by digital expertise, analysis or entrepreneurship that contributes to the conservation and sustainable use of mountain assets. 

The award will prioritize initiatives that tackle glacier-associated challenges, sustainable water administration, agrifood methods, glacier preservation or the resilience and livelihoods of mountain communities. 

Prizes

Each awardee will obtain: 

• Cash prize to help challenge implementation 
• International recognition and visibility alternatives (i.e. promotion on FAO and Mountain Partnership web sites, social media options, potential media outreach and engagement with the Mountain Partnership’s world community) 
• Follow-up conferences with the Mountain Partnership Secretariat to debate challenge progress 

Eligibility

• Applicants should be people over the age of 18, establishments or established organizations. 
• Applicants should be the unique creators of the challenge proposal they submit. 
• Eligible proposals might embody new initiatives, or initiatives in planning, pilot or early implementation levels. Projects which might be totally applied will not be eligible.  
• Only initiatives that function in or immediately profit mountain areas are eligible. Entirely AI-generated submissions will not be permitted. Applicants should reveal unique thought and are inspired to reveal any AI-assisted content material. 

Selection Criteria

Project proposals shall be assessed by a panel of consultants from FAO and the Mountain Partnership based mostly on the next standards:

• Feasibility and sustainability  
• Impact on mountain communities and livelihoods  
• Scalability and replicability  
• Community engagement and inclusivity 
• Level of innovation and technical benefit 
• Involvement of youth 
• Relevance to glacier-associated challenges and mountain resilience 

Application

The deadline for submissions is 31 October 2025. Project proposals could also be submitted in English, Spanish or French through the online form.

For extra info, go to Mountain Future Award.