Internat'l coral grants

[Eileen Alicea]

An opportunity for funding of international coral reef projects is now
available through NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Grant Program, which was
published in the Federal Register on Friday, January 17, 2003.  The
international grant information below is excerpted from the Federal
Register, Vol. 68, No. 12

The Program Guidelines provide a general overview of the program, while the
Fiscal Year 2003 Funding Guidance published in the Federal Register Vol. 68,
No. 12, January 17, 2003 provides specific information on the eligibility,
proposal content, etc., for each of the four international project
categories included in this year’s funding. Both of the documents may be
found at http://ipo.nos.noaa.gov/coralgrants.html. Applications for funding
are DUE TO NOAA on March 14, 2003.

Eligible Applicants
Eligible applicants include all international, governmental, and
non-governmental organizations, including the Federated States of
Micronesia, Republic of Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Eligibility is also contingent upon whether activities undertaken with
respect to the application would be consistent with any applicable
conditions or restrictions imposed by the U.S. government.

The International grant program has four project categories: (Please note
that there is no category for coral reef monitoring this year)

1. Promote Watershed Management in Wider Caribbean Island Nations: The U.S.
and its partners are launching the White Water to Blue Water Initiative
presented at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. It is intended to
help implement international agreements and programs, for example, the
Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island
Developing States, The Convention for the Protection and Development of the
Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (the Cartagena Convention)
and its three protocols (including The Protocol concerning Pollution from
Land-based Sources and Activities), and the International Coral Reef
Initiative.  Therefore, IPO will fund activities that implement best
management practices that reduce or control runoff to near shore coral reef
ecosystems in the Wider Caribbean; assess effectiveness of these management
practices; engage stakeholders and government agencies in collaborative
partnerships to implement these practices; and recommend a set of best
management practices that can be applied to small island Caribbean systems.

2. Enhance Management Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs): NOAA
has launched a strategic partnership with the World Conservation Union’s
(IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and World Wildlife Fund
(WWF)International to improve the management of MPAs by providing managers,
planners and other decision makers with methods for assessing the
effectiveness of MPA sites.  Therefore, IPO will fund activities at coral
MPA sites that are building an adaptive management and evaluation program
and will conduct an assessment of management effectiveness in order to
strengthen and achieve the site goals and objectives.

3. Encourage Regional Approaches to Further No-Take Marine Reserves in the
Wider Caribbean and Southeast Asia: Through this program, IPO will fund
regional level activities that benefit existing marine reserves in the Wider
Caribbean and Southeast Asia.  Southeast Asia shall be defined by Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and
Vietnam.  Furthermore, proposed regional level activities must involve sites
in two or more countries and address the needs of no-take marine reserves in
the regions as identified in the WCPA - Marine Caribbean Regional
Coordination Plan and the WCPA-Marine Southeast Asia Regional Action Plan.
The plans with the priority themes can be found at
http://ipo.nos.noaa.gov/coralgrants.html.

4. Promote Socio-Economic Monitoring in Coral Reef Management: Recognizing
the importance of the human dimension, the GCRMN published The Socioeconomic
Manual for Coral Reef Management, in partnership with NOAA, WCPA, and the
Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), a guide to conducting
socioeconomic assessments of reef user groups. As follow-up, the GCRMN,
WCPA-Marine and NOAA are working with ICLARM, the University of West Indies
and other partners in the regions to develop socioeconomic monitoring
programs specific to Southeast Asia and the Wider Caribbean.  These regional
programs include three key phases: (1) development of SocMon, i.e.,
standardized, simple socioeconomic monitoring guidelines for each region;
(2) socioeconomic training workshops for reef managers to learn how to
conduct SocMon, specifically how to establish socioeconomic monitoring
programs at their sites; and, (3) establishment of socioeconomic monitoring
programs at participants’ coral reef management programs. Under this project
category, IPO will fund phase three - the establishment of socioeconomic
monitoring programs at coral reef sites in Southeast Asia and the Wider
Caribbean.  Proposals for such work in the Wider Caribbean must utilize the
SocMon-Wider Caribbean Guidelines; and similarly, proposals for work in
Southeast Asia must utilize the SocMon-Southeast Asia Guidelines.  For the
purpose of this project category, Southeast Asia shall be defined as Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and
Vietnam.  Both sets of Guidelines can be found at
http://ipo.nos.noaa.gov/coralgrants.html.

Awards
Awards will be:
a.  Watershed Management: Up to $75,000
b.  Management Effectiveness: $20,000 - $40,000
c.  Marine Reserves: $25,000 - $40,000
d.  Socio-economic Monitoring: $15,000 - $25,000
Project start date should be Oct 1st 2003 with duration of 12-18 months.
Matching contributions should be from non-US Federal sources.  If an
organization has no reasonable means to provide a match, please refer to
Section VIII. Matching funds of the Program Guidelines Federal Register
Notice at  http://ipo.nos.noaa.gov/coralgrants.html for detailed
instructions

How to apply:
Initial applications may be submitted by surface mail, e-mail, or Fax
(301-713-4389).  Submissions by e-mail are preferred. If submitting by
surface mail, please include a copy of the initial application in electronic
format on disk or CD and mail both to: David Kennedy, NOAA Coral Reef
Conservation Program Coordinator, Office of Response and Restoration, N/ORR,
Room 10102, NOAA National Ocean Service, 1305 East-West Highway, Silver
Spring, MD 20910.  Applications submitted by e-mail must be sent to
coral.grants at noaa.gov with ATTENTION to International Coral Reef
Conservation.  Applications must be received by FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 2003. NOAA
will provide written notice of the final funding selection on or before
September 30, 2003

For complete details on project categories and requirements, please refer to
the 2003 Funding Guidance Federal Register Notice at
http://ipo.nos.noaa.gov/coralgrants.html. (Sections pertinent to the
International Coral Reef Conservation program are: pp.2513-14 up to Section
I, Section VII, and Section VIII).  For more information, please contact
Eileen Alicea at eileen.alicea at noaa.gov or 301-713-3078 x218.
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