1. National Geographic “Recovery of Species on the Brink of Extinction”.  April 4^th.  Materials for Endorsement Letter Mar 28th

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/grants/what-we-fund/rfp/species-recovery/

Bat submissions for which there is no Action Plan will require endorsement from the IUCN Bat Specialist Group, so if you plan to apply, you need to provide me (Tigga) with the following by March 28th to allow time to prepare an effective endorsement:
–        Completed draft of your proposal

–        Information for a letter of endorsement - this needs to explicitly state:

1. PI
2. Title of proposal
3. Summary of species status and main threats, making it clear how the species is “on the brink” of extinction (brief)
4. How the action planned addresses the threats and aligns with the RL assessment for the species and conservation recommendations/actions within the assessment
5. How the proposers will demonstrate change and identify indicators of recovery
6.  List the early career and in-country conservationists involved

2. Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund: Supporting Conservation of Threatened Species

Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund.

Deadline Saturday, June 30, 2018

Opportunity type: 

Funding

Applicants are invited to apply for the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund that has been established to provide targeted grants to individual species conservation initiatives, recognize leaders in the field and elevate the importance of species in the broader conservation debate.

Its focus is global and eligibility for grants will extend to all plant, animal and fungi species conservation efforts, without discrimination on the basis of region or selected species.

The Fund intends to be as flexible and accommodating as possible when reviewing applications, and to take into account as many different factors as is reasonable when assessing the merit of a suggested project. To support this and to try to streamline the application process, the review process is kept comparatively simple.

Funding Information

The Fund maximum grant size is $25,000, and any application asking for more than this from the Fund will be rejected. The total budget of a project can be higher if there are other sources of funding.

Eligibility Criteria

– Anyone directly involved in species conservation can apply to the Fund for a grant.
– The Fund will consider grants for the conservation of any threatened or poorly known animal, plant or fungus species.
– The Fund is primarily interested in situ species conservation work, but will consider applications for an ex situ project where it is demonstrated to be critical to the survival of the species concerned.
– Language: Applications must be submitted in English.
– Currency: Budgets must be submitted in US Dollars.

How to Apply

Interested applicants must fill the application form via given website.

For more information, please visit Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund.

The Kate Barlow Award aims to encourage the next generation of bat researchers by providing a substantive contribution towards the research costs of postgraduate students undertaking research that will benefit bat conservation, in honour of the late Dr Kate Barlow’s contribution to bat conservation.

• The Kate Barlow Award is open to students anywhere in the world conducting research which has a direct relevance for bat conservation.
• One award of up to £4,500 will be made, towards the costs of a bat research project of no less than 4 months duration.
• In addition BCT will pay for the award winner to attend either the BCT National Bat Conference or another relevant bat research and conservation conference.
• An award decision will be made by the end of February 2018.

To apply, a completed application form together with two letters of recommendation should be emailed to science@bats.org.uk. The application form and guidance notes can be found on our website here:  http://www.bats.org.uk/pages/the_kate_barlow_award.html

Kate Barlow and a phyllostomid friend in Colombia, 1993 – great times (Photo T. Kingston)

We are pleased to announce that applications to the 2018 Kate Barlow award are now open – the closing date is 5pm, 4^th December 2017.

The Kate Barlow Award aims to encourage the next generation of bat researchers by providing a substantive contribution towards the research costs of postgraduate students undertaking research that will benefit bat conservation, in honour of the late Dr Kate Barlow’s contribution to bat conservation.

• The Kate Barlow Award is open to students anywhere in the world conducting research which has a direct relevance for bat conservation.
• One award of up to £4,500 will be made, towards the costs of a bat research project of no less than 4 months duration.
• In addition BCT will pay for the award winner to attend either the BCT National Bat Conference or another relevant bat research and conservation conference.
• An award decision will be made by the end of February 2018.

To apply, a completed application form together with two letters of recommendation should be emailed to science@bats.org.uk. The application form and guidance notes can be found on our website here:  http://www.bats.org.uk/pages/the_kate_barlow_award.html

Kate Barlow and a phyllostomid friend in Colombia, 1993 – great times (Photo T. Kingston)

Category #1: Answering ecological or behavioral questions essential to the conservation or management of one or more bat species currently listed as Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, or Data Deficient by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species;

Category #2: Documenting key ecological or economic roles of bats (regardless of species), which hold promise for helping promote the importance of bat conservation; or

Category #3: Designing strategies and testing methods to connect bat conservation actions with sustainable development initiatives, particularly in developing countries, focused on the linkages between environmental stewardship and advancement of economic and public health issues at the community level.

Financial awards of up to $5,000 each will be given to the best projects for 2015-16. Award decisions and funding agreements are expected to be finalized by June 1, 2015.

Eligibility is open to students, researchers, conservationists, educators, NGOs, networks, etc. for projects in any country around the world (except those countries prohibited from receiving funds by the US Government).

The application deadline is March 22, 2015.  Detailed information is available online at http://www.batcon.org/our-work/initiatives/award-grants-scholarships.

To contact BCI about this RFP, please send an email to: grants@batcon.org

This collaborative project will be led by SEABCRU’s Dr. Neil Furey, Fauna & Flora International (Cambodia) and Cambodian colleagues, and in collaboration with Dr. Tigga Kingston, Chair of Southeast Asian Bat Conservation & Research Unit (SEABCRU), Texas Tech University.

Our goals include:

1. Launching a status assessment of 33 caves for cave bats in southern Cambodia

2. Engaging local communities and authorities living near cave roosts in Cambodia through educational and capacity-building activities

3. Establishing national cave bat database in Cambodia

4. Expanding region-wide research and conservation capacity beyond Cambodia (primarily in Laos and Vietnam)

Project Background and Details: The significance of SE Asian caves for sustaining bat diversity and the multitude of threats they face are widely recognized. Threats range from total destruction of roost sites due to quarrying activities, disturbance from show cave development and guano harvesting, through to direct hunting of colonial species such as wrinkle-lipped bats. These threats pose a major conservation concern in Cambodia, where karst areas are experiencing increasing forest degradation, tourism development, and limestone quarrying.

Though the extent of Cambodian karst is not accurately known, the largest outcrops occur in the western Battambang and southern Kampot and Kep provinces. Over 100 caves are registered from these areas, yet very few have been surveyed for bats to date and most of these assessments took place more than 10 years ago. While the limited data available indicates that karst areas in the Kampot and Kep provinces support major colonies of wrinkle-lipped bats, their current status is unknown. As hunting of bats for food is common in Cambodia and few if any caves are protected for biodiversity, the need for assessments to determine the status and management imperatives of key sites for cave-dwelling bats is crucial.

Key sites for cave bat conservation will be identified on the basis of species richness, population size, presence of IUCN red-listed and/or rarely-recorded species, levels of disturbance and actual and potential conservation threats. Special note will be taken of any new or innovative sustainable cave management and guano harvesting approaches encountered, and the fieldwork will facilitate the development of protocols for surveying cave bat diversity in Cambodia. Site management authorities will be trained in bat conservation and monitoring techniques through their involvement in the field research. To raise local awareness, cave profiles (including management recommendations) will be translated into the Khmer language and provided to local authorities and residents alongside introductory information on the biological, ecological, and economic importance of bats.

Data from the field research will be collated in the form of a national cave database at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) plus a synthesis report on the status of cave bats in southern Cambodia (including site-specific recommendations for conservation and management).