Environment

TROPICAL RAINFORESTS

Why we want to help:

The world has approximately 4 billion hectares of forest, representing almost 30% of the Earth's landmass, with roughly 56 percent of these forests lying in tropical and subtropical areas. More than 1 billion people rely heavily on forests for their livelihoods, and they are the most biologically-diverse ecosystems on land, home to more than half of all terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects. Forests also play a vital role in global climate regulation through the sequestration and storage of carbon.
But despite increased awareness of their importance, forests are experiencing escalating impact from human activities. In recent years we have lost over 3.5 million hectares of primary forest annually, and yet more forests are becoming degraded or fragmented. It has been calculated that the deforestation of tropical forests is responsible for about 20 percent of current global carbon emissions, making it a major contributor to climate change.

What we will support:

Under our Tropical Rainforests programme, preference will be given to initiatives working to protect tropical rainforests for their value to the climate, communities and biodiversity, principally through avoided deforestation. We will consider both practical local projects, and strategic initiatives.

Local projects

Applications for practical local projects that we will consider would typically be working on a specified tropical rainforest area, defined in hectares. We will generally only accept applications for the protection of areas larger than 10,000 hectares. Applicants will need to demonstrate how their project involves:

• Exposing, addressing and overcoming the local drivers of deforestation
• Management of the specified area
• Methods to measure and monitor the protected area
• Sustainable livelihoods for forest-dependent communities
• Securing land rights or management rights for forest-dependent communities

Click here for examples of local projects we have funded through our Tropical Rainforests programme.

Strategic projects

We will consider applications for strategic projects that are working on addressing the drivers of deforestation on a wider or international scale. These could include:

• Working on international or regional forest policy
• Campaigning for improved practices in commerce
• Innovative ways of reducing deforestation e.g. financial systems or solutions based on the value of forest ecosystem services

Strategic project applicants will have to provide the following information:

• Evidence of previous successful strategic programmes e.g. an attributable change in policy or improved supply chain. We may ask to see a full copy of the supporting data and evaluation at a later stage;
• For your proposed programme, the specific measurable outcomes that you expect the programme to achieve, and the methods you will use to monitor these outcomes;
• The strategy put in place to ensure the sustainability of the programme’s objectives for the long term. 

Click here for examples of strategic projects we have funded through our Tropical Rainforests programme.

WHAT WE WILL NOT FUND

We are not able to offer funding for:

• Tree planting projects
• Projects focused solely on the use of fuel-efficient stoves
• Projects with animal conservation as the sole focus
• Research projects
• Projects focusing on environmental education
• We are currently not accepting proposals for REDD and carbon finance projects
• Projects based in countries that are not secure and politically stable. We are therefore unlikely to support projects in conflict-affected areas such as within DRC and CAR.
• In addition, we only consider proposals from US-based organisations under exceptional circumstances, due to the higher availability of environmental funding in the US compared to the UK.

APPLYING FOR FUNDING

If you think that you are eligible for funding, please see the Environment - Application Guidelines page for guidance about how to submit a funding application. 
Please note that all applications must be submitted to applications@waterloofoundation.org.uk.