Description
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) mission is to work with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The International Affairs Program delivers on this mission through its financial assistance programs by supporting strategic projects that deliver measurable conservation results for priority species and their habitats around the world. Latin America is the single most biologically diverse region of the world and of critical importance to wildlife conservation efforts in the Western Hemisphere and globally. The United States and Latin America share a great number of species that largely depend on the region’s unique landscapes for their survival. The region’s ecosystems provide important environmental services and reduce the severity of climate change impacts. Protecting wildlife and their habitats in Latin America is critical for regional stability, security, and economic prosperity. The goal of the Latin America Regional program is to conserve priority species, habitats and ecological processes across landscapes with high biodiversity value in the region. The Latin America Regional program is soliciting proposals to reduce threats to key wildlife and ecosystems and to strengthen local individual and institutional capacity to sustain conservation processes in the long-term. Proposals should describe specific conservation actions that will foster sustainable resource use, mitigate human-wildlife conflicts, and/or combat wildlife poaching and trafficking. Proposed project activities that reduce the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on conservation goals and promote climate change adaptation and resilience are also welcome. The Service works closely with national governments, U.S. agencies, civil society organizations, and a range of other partners to ensure a results-based approach to wildlife conservation. The Latin America Regional program maintains a strong focus on working with local communities to support rural stability, greater security, and good health for both people and wildlife. For instance, efforts that create local support for conserving wildlife by strengthening or creating incentives for communities to be stewards of their biodiversity (e.g. conservation incentive agreements, alternative sustainable livelihood activities, land use stewardship plans, etc.). The Service also support efforts that decrease the costs of living with wildlife. This includes working with landowners to reduce human-wildlife conflicts that cause damage to human lives and livelihoods and can lead to poaching and/or wildlife trafficking. Project activities should take place in Latin America in eligible geographies. If work is to be conducted in the United States, the proposal must show a clear impact on biodiversity conservation in Latin America to be eligible. Project activities that emphasize data collection and status assessment should describe a direct link to management action, and explain how lack of information has been a key limiting factor for management action in the past. Proposals that do not identify how actions will reduce threats or that do not demonstrate a strong link between data collection and management action will be rejected. Please note that local government endorsement is required for all proposals. Applicants are strongly encouraged to consult with relevant government authorities prior to preparing applications for Service funds. Due to other grant programs supported by the Service, the Latin America Regional Program WILL NOT FUND projects related to marine turtles (Marine Turtle Conservation Fund) or neotropical migratory birds (Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Fund). Thematic and Geographic Eligibility Mexico: California condor: Sierra de San Pedro Martir National Park. Jaguar: Sonora, Pacific Southwest, Yucatan peninsula, and Greater Lacandon system. Monarch Butterfly: Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. Scarlet Macaw: Veracruz and Greater Lacandon system. Central America: For all landscapes, projects should address one or more of the following themes: addressing drivers of deforestation, especially uncontrolled cattle ranching; strengthening management of protected areas, community forests, and indigenous territories; improving alternative livelihoods; and mitigating threats to jaguars, tapirs, macaws, and peccaries. Maya Forest - Maya Mountains Massif – Chiquibul – Central and Southern Corridor (Guatemala and Belize) Rio Plátano - Tawahka - Patuca - Bosawas (Honduras and Nicaragua) Rio Indo Maíz (Nicaragua) La Amistad (Costa Rica and Panama) Darién Gap (Panama) South America: Sustainable Resource Use and Wildlife Trafficking: Tropical Andes (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru) Sustainable Resource Use and Human-Wildlife Conflict: Patagonia (Chile and Argentina) Sustainable Resource Use: Gran Chaco (Dry Chaco ecoregion of Paraguay)