Deadline: 9 January 2020
Nominations are now open for 2020 Equator Prize, organised by the Equator Initiative within the United Nations Development Programme.
The Equator Prize 2020 will be awarded to outstanding local community and indigenous peoples initiatives that advance innovative nature-based solutions for sustainable development. The winners will join a prestigious network of 245 leading community-based organizations from 81 countries that have been awarded the Equator Prize since 2002.
The Equator Initiative is a United Nations-led partnership that brings together governments, civil society, grassroots organizations, and businesses to foster resilient communities by recognizing and advancing local nature-based solutions for sustainable development.
The Equator Initiative creates opportunities and platforms to share knowledge and good practices, develops capacities of local communities and indigenous peoples, informs policy through convening multi-stakeholder dialogues, and fosters enabling environments to replicate and scale up community action.
The Equator Prize is awarded biennially to recognize outstanding community efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. As sustainable community initiatives take root throughout the tropics, they are laying the foundation for a global movement of local successes that are collectively making a contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As local and indigenous groups across the tropics demonstrate and exemplify sustainable development, the Equator Prize shines a spotlight on their efforts by celebrating them on an international stage.
Prize Information
Each Equator Prize winner will receive USD 10,000 and will be supported to participate in a series of policy dialogues and special events during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille, France, in June 2020.
Thematic Areas
Thematic priorities include:
- Nature for Prosperity. Protection, restoration and/or sustainable management of terrestrial or marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and/or wildlife that enables sustainable and green livelihoods, enterprises and jobs; including indigenous economies.
- Nature for Water. Protection, restoration and/or sustainable management of ecosystems for water security.
- Nature for Climate. Protection, restoration and/or sustainable management of ecosystems that help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and/or help communities adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for the Equator Prize, the following requirements apply:
- The initiative must have been in existence for at least three years, and/or the actions taken must have been in place for at least three years;
- The nominee must be either a local community-based group, operating in a rural area, based in a country receiving support from the United Nations Development Programme or an indigenous peoples’ community in any country, operating in a rural area;
- The actions taken must be nature-based, and must deliver benefits related to two or more Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Eligible Initiatives
- Community-based associations or organizations;
- Community-based enterprises and cooperatives;
- Women’s associations or organizations;
- Indigenous or ethnic minority groups or associations;
- Youth groups or associations;
- Non-governmental organizations.
Selection Criteria
Equator Prize winners are selected by an independent Technical Advisory Committee, which assesses nominations based on the following criteria:
- Impact: The extent to which the nominated initiative has resulted in measurable and positive environmental, social and economic impacts, related to two or more Sustainable Development Goals;
- Innovation: The extent to which the nominated initiative demonstrates new approaches and models that overcome prevailing constraints, and could offer fundamentally new approaches to attaining sustainable development;
- Scalability and/or replicability: The extent to which the nominated initiative could be scaled up sub-nationally or nationally and/or, the extent to which the initiative can be replicated within the country and beyond;
- Resilience, Adaptability, and Self-Sufficiency: The extent to which the nominated initiative demonstrates adaptability to environmental, social and economic change, resilience in the face of external pressures, and improved capacity for local self-sufficiency;
- Reduced inequalities: The extent to which the initiative reduces inequalities in income as well as those based on age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status, particular for the poor;
- Social Inclusion: The extent to which the nominated initiative includes youth, elders, indigenous members and other diverse groups in the decision-making processes and the actions that affect them;
- Gender Equality: The extent to which the nominated Initiative promotes the equality and empowerment of women and girls.
Eligible Countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Kiribati, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, United States, Canada, Greenland ,Member states of the European Union, Israel, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Hong Kong , Macau, Taiwan, Turkey.
For more information, visit https://www.equatorinitiative.org/equator-prize/