[Coral-List] 2006 NOAA INTERNATIONAL CORAL GRANTS: FINAL Correction

Eileen Alicea Eileen.Alicea at noaa.gov
Wed Sep 7 10:49:21 EDT 2005


2006 NOAA INTERNATIONAL CORAL GRANT PROGRAM
FINAL CORRECTION FOR FFO ACCESS

An opportunity for funding international coral reef projects is now 
available through NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Grant Program, which 
was published in the Federal government grants website on July 1, 2005. 
A summary of the international grant information is available through 
the links in the web site: http://ipo.nos.noaa.gov/coralgrants.html.

The Fiscal Year 2006 Federal Funding Opportunity provides specific 
information and details on the eligibility, proposal content, etc., for 
each of the four international project categories included in this 
year's funding announcement. To access the PDF file of this Federal 
Funding Opportunity Number NOS-IPO-2006-2000331, please access 
http://www.coralreef.noaa.gov/funding/grants/fy06_ffo_intrntl_grant.pdf. 
Applications for funding are DUE TO NOAA/NOS International Program 
Office on Tuesday, November 15, 2005 by 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Standard 
Time.

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants include all international, governmental (except U.S. 
federal agencies), and non-governmental organizations. For specific 
country eligibility per category, please refer to individual category 
descriptions in Section V. The proposed work must be conducted at a 
non-U.S. site. Eligible countries are defined as follows: The Wider 
Caribbean includes the 37 States and territories that border the marine 
environment of the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the areas of 
the Atlantic Ocean adjacent thereto, and Brazil and Bermuda, but 
excluding areas under U.S. jurisdiction. The South Pacific Region 
includes South Pacific Regional Environment Program’s 19 Pacific island 
countries and territories, including the Federated States of Micronesia, 
Republic of Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, but 
excluding U.S. territories and four developed country members. Southeast 
Asia Region includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, 
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. East Africa includes 
Comoros, France (La Reunion), Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, 
Seychelles, Somalia, the United Republic of Tanzania and South Africa. 
Eligibility criteria are also contingent upon whether activities 
undertaken with respect to the pre- and final application would be 
consistent with any applicable conditions or restrictions imposed by the 
U.S. government.

The International Grant Program has four project categories:

1. Promote Watershed Management in the Wider Caribbean, Brazil, and 
Bermuda: IPO will fund activities that promote integrated watershed and 
coastal management practices that reduce or control runoff to near shore 
coral reef ecosystems, including programs that prioritize marine 
protected areas and the conservation of biodiversity within watershed 
planning and management, 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 the Wider Caribbean region. 
Examples of allowed activities may be:

a. Analysis of regulatory and legislative frameworks to identify areas 
needing strengthening;
b. Education and outreach to promote integrated watershed and coastal 
management practices;
c. Workshops to enhance stakeholder participation and implementation of 
integrated watershed management;
d. Assessment of land use impacts that threaten to degrade near-shore 
coral reefs and development of management practices to reduce and/or 
eliminate the identified threats;
e. Demonstration of best management practices for the agricultural 
sector to control nutrients, sediments and pesticides that threaten 
near-shore reefs.

2. Regional Enhancement of Marine Protected Area Management 
Effectiveness: IPO will fund regional activities at coral MPA sites that 
are building an adaptive management and evaluation program and will 
conduct an assessment of management effectiveness, using the “How is 
your MPA Doing” handbook, in order to strengthen and achieve the site 
goals and objectives. The Management Effectiveness category will 
emphasize regional capacity building in the WCPA-Marine/WWF methodology.

Go to: http://effectivempa.noaa.gov/guidebook/guidebook.html to view a 
copy of "How is Your MPA Doing? A Guidebook of Natural and Social 
Indicators for Evaluating Marine Protected Area Management 
Effectiveness" (pdf, 216 pages, 3.5MB). June 2004.

3. Encourage the Development of National Systems of Marine Protected 
Areas in the Wider Caribbean, Bermuda, Brazil, and Southeast Asia: IPO 
will fund the implementation of national MPA system planning processes 
that contribute to an integrated plan for a comprehensive and effective 
national system of MPAs, including the following activities:

a) development and coordination of dialogues and partnerships with key 
agencies, academic institutions, and diverse stakeholders;
b) syntheses of the purposes, types, resources protected, and levels of 
protection afforded by existing National Systems of MPAs and all other 
relevant marine management efforts;
c) assessments of existing legal and policy frameworks for MPAs;
d) assessments of contributions of existing National Systems of MPAs to 
overall goals of a National System;
e) national and sub-national (where appropriate) syntheses of 
information on the distribution and status of key resources and habitats 
marine ecosystems;
f) assessments of patterns and potential impacts of human uses in marine 
ecosystems;
g) assessments of gaps in protection for important marine areas;
h) recommended priority areas for consideration in future MPA planning, 
including areas for inclusion in a national system.
i) development of comprehensive, long-term monitoring programs to 
investigate effects of National Systems of MPAs on key resources, 
ecosystems, socioeconomics, and public perceptions (does not include 
implementation of monitoring program).

Priority will be given to proposals that rely heavily on consistent, 
meaningful engagement of and input by diverse stakeholder interests.

4. Promote Regional Socio-Economic Training and Monitoring in Coral Reef

Management in the Wider Caribbean, Brazil, Bermuda, East Africa, South 
Pacific, and Southeast Asia: IPO will fund activities that support these 
regional initiatives and that include both a capacity-building component 
(e.g. training workshop) and establishment of socioeconomic monitoring 
programs at three or more sites. Regional is defined either as three or 
more sites in a single country or 3 or more sites between two or more 
countries. See http://ipo.nos.noaa.gov/coralgrants.html for more 
information and for copies of the global and regional guidelines.

Funding Availability

Approximately $400,000 may be available in FY 2006 to support grants and 
cooperative agreements under this program. Approximately 
$75,000-$100,000 may be allocated to each of the four project categories 
listed below, with the following award ranges:

a. Watershed Management: $30,000-$40,000
b. Management Effectiveness: Regional capacity building projects: up to 
$80,000
c. MPA National Systems: $40,000-$50,000
d. Socio-economic Monitoring Regional projects: $15,000 - $35,000

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

As per section 6403(b)(1) of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, 
Federal funds for any coral conservation project funded under this 
Program may not exceed 50 percent of the total cost of the projects. 
Therefore, any coral conservation project under this program requires a 
1:1 match. Matching funds must be from non-Federal sources and can 
include in-kind contributions and other non-cash support. Federal funds 
may not be considered as matching funds. Matching contributions cannot 
serve as match for other grants. As per section 6403(b)(2) of the Coral 
Reef Conservation Act of 2000, the NOAA Administrator may waive all or 
part of the matching requirement if the Administrator determines that 
the project meets the following two requirements:

1. No reasonable means are available through which an applicant can meet 
the matching requirement, and
2. The probable benefit of such project outweighs the public interest in 
such matching requirement.

Pre-application Submission Information

Pre-applications may be submitted by surface mail or e-mail. Submission 
by e-mail to coral.grants at noaa.gov is preferred. If submitting by 
surface mail, applicants are encouraged to include an electronic copy of 
the pre-application or final application on disk or CD. Federal 
financial assistance forms are not required to be submitted with the 
pre-application. Paper pre-applications must be submitted 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. Electronic 
pre-applications must be submitted to coral.grants at noaa.gov. Fax 
submittals will also be accepted for pre-applications (Fax: 
301-713-4389). Electronic acceptable formats are limited to Adobe 
Acrobat (.PDF), WordPerfect or Microsoft Word files.

For further information about the international coral grants, please 
write to: International.Coral.Grants at noaa.gov 
<mailto:International.Coral.Grants at noaa.gov>




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